Abstract
The mental health of university students, especially medical students, is of growing concern in the UK. To estimate the prevalence of mental disorder in health sciences students and investigate help-seeking behaviour. An online survey from one English university (n = 1139; 53% response rate) collected data on depression (using the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire), anxiety (seven-item Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment), alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), self-harm and well-being, as well as help seeking. A quarter of the students reported symptoms of moderate/severe depression and 27% reported symptoms of moderate/severe anxiety. Only 21% of students with symptoms of severe depression had sought professional help; the main reason for not seeking help was fear of documentation on academic records. The study highlights the extent of mental health problems faced by health science students. Barriers to help seeking due to concerns about fitness-to-practise procedures urgently need to be addressed to ensure that this population of students can access help in a timely fashion. None.
Highlights
The mental health of university students, especially medical students, is of growing concern in the UK
Using data from an online survey of health science students at a UK university, we aimed to address the following research questions: (a) What is the prevalence of depression, anxiety, alcohol-use disorders, self-harm and poor mental well-being in students of health sciences courses?
We used item 9 in the PHQ-9 to identify students experiencing suicidal thoughts: ‘Over the last two weeks, have you been bothered by thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself in some way?’ Students were asked about their self-harm behaviour in the past 12 months using two questions: (a) ‘In the past 12 months, have you ever hurt yourself on purpose in any way?’ and (b) ‘On those occasions in the past 12 months when you have hurt yourself on purpose, have you ever seriously wanted to kill yourself?’ These questions were used to categorise students into those who have self-harmed with or without suicidal intent
Summary
There is growing concern about the mental health of students in higher education; it is estimated that one in five students worldwide have a mental disorder.[1]. About one in four medical students experience depression/ depressive symptoms,[6] but recent evidence from the UK is lacking as the last prevalence estimate was assessed over 8 years ago.[7] Understanding the prevalence of mental health disorders in health science students is important given the unique characteristics of these courses, which may include clinical placements some distance away from the traditional university support systems, and might mean that help-seeking practices are different from those of other students. Health science students may face additional barriers to accessing help amidst concerns over General Medical Council[8] and General Dental Council[9] fitness-to-practise regulations. Few studies have investigated their help-seeking behaviours and barriers to support utilisation.[11]
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