Quality of sleep and psychological morbidity among paramedical and medical students in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Objective : The objective of this study was to compare the quality of sleep and psychological morbidity between medical students and paramedical students. Methods : A cross sectional survey of one hundred and eighty-six students of the College of Medicine, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, Nigeria, were surveyed using socio-demographic questionnaires, Pittsburgh Sleep Questionnaire and General Health questionnaire. Results: The mean ages among paramedical students was 20.63±1.6 and medical students was 22.80±2.93 respectively. Medical Students had a higher percentage of those who had poor sleep quality (86.7% ,≥ 5, n=85) than the paramedical students (38.6%, n=34) and higher mean scores on General Health Questionnaire, M(SD) = 8.75(5.01) than the Paramedical group, M(SD) = 6.53(2.97) respectively. Conclusion : The findings in our study showed that medical students had poorer sleep quality and higher psychological morbidity in comparison to paramedical students, efforts should be made to reduce academic stress and improving sleep quality. Keywords : Sleep, Psychological Morbidity, Medical Students, Paramedical Students, Medical Education