Trends and determinants of quality of life and self-rated health in the course of medical education among medical students

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the change in the self-rated health and quality of life of students of a school of medicine during the course of their education and the predictive factors of health and quality of life such as socioeconomic factors, health status and healthy lifestyle, social relationships and social support, and academic burden. The study is a cross-sectional study that aimed to reach the entire registered students of Manisa Celal Bayar University School of Medicine in 2016-2017. Dependent variables in this study are the overall quality of life, self-rated health and annual self- rated health transition About 10.1% of the students stated their overall quality of life as poor or very poor whereas nearly 10.9% were dissatisfied about their health and 20.3 % of them stated their current health as worse than the previous year. There is a linear trend in a year in medical school in terms of quality of life. The logistic regression Model suggested that having a non-depressed mood is the best predictor of a better quality of life. Lower BMI, being healthy, taking care of their health and having a nuclear family are found the most important variables that affect self-rated health positively. The final term students (interns) perceived the worse overall quality of life than the first and second-year students. Additionally, the majority of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th term students reported their health worse than the previous year. These facts in self-rated health and QOL may be regarded as pieces of evidence that may lead the university authorities to take measures especially in clinical terms of medical education.