Abstract
BackgroundMedical education can affect medical students’ physical and mental health as well as their quality of life. The aim of this study was to assess medical students’ perceptions of their quality of life and its relationship with medical education.MethodsFirst- to sixth-year students from six Brazilian medical schools were interviewed using focus groups to explore what medical student’s lives are like, factors related to increases and decreases of their quality of life during medical school, and how they deal with the difficulties in their training.ResultsStudents reported a variety of difficulties and crises during medical school. Factors that were reported to decrease their quality of life included competition, unprepared teachers, excessive activities, and medical school schedules that demanded exclusive dedication. Contact with pain, death and suffering and harsh social realities influence their quality of life, as well as frustrations with the program and insecurity regarding their professional future. The scarcity of time for studying, leisure activities, relationships, and rest was considered the main factor of influence. Among factors that increase quality of life are good teachers, classes with good didactic approaches, active learning methodologies, contact with patients, and efficient time management. Students also reported that meaningful relationships with family members, friends, or teachers increase their quality of life.ConclusionQuality of teachers, curricula, healthy lifestyles related to eating habits, sleep, and physical activity modify medical students’ quality of life. Lack of time due to medical school obligations was a major impact factor. Students affirm their quality of life is influenced by their medical school experiences, but they also reframe their difficulties, herein represented by their poor quality of life, understood as necessary and inherent to the process of becoming doctors.
Highlights
Medical education can affect medical students’ physical and mental health as well as their quality of life
Students in focus groups were asked the following questions: “What is the concept of quality of life in your view?”, “What is a medical student’s quality of life like?”, “What are the factors that increase quality of life in medical school?”, “What are the factors that decrease quality of life in medical school?”, “What are the coping strategies you use to improve your quality of life?” Two researchers performed group coordination, one acting as the coordinator and the other as an assistant
At the same time, they faced situations of pain, suffering, death and social realities different from their own. They experienced an ambivalence of feeling proud coupled with the fears, demands, pressure, and insecurities of their profession. They considered that a medical program demands exclusive dedication and they dedicated a large part of their time to it, to the detriment of other areas of their lives
Summary
Medical education can affect medical students’ physical and mental health as well as their quality of life. Medical students present higher levels of stress when compared with other young people of the same age in other programs [5]. They have higher scores of daytime somnolence [6,7,8,9]. Studies with medical students have found that during the first year of medical school students had Quality of life has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its multicenter studies as, “the individual’s perception of his position in life, within the context of culture and system of values wherein the individual lives and in relation to his objectives, expectations, standards and concerns” [12]. The perception of quality of life is individual, subjective, and temporary, which makes its measurement and comparisons difficult [12,13,14]
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