Quality of Life of Medical Students during Clinical Clerkship / 한국의학교육

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study examined the stress, resilience, social support, and quality of life (QOL) of medical students during a clinical clerkship and identified the factors that affected their QOL. METHODS: The subjects were 53 medical college students and 43 postgraduate medical school students of D medical school in Korea. They completed a demographic questionnaire and self-rated questionnaires on stress, resilience, social support, and QOL. Frequency and descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were performed. RESULTS: The level of students' QOL was moderate. QOL correlated negatively with stress and positively with resilience and social support. Stress correlated negatively with resilience and social support. By regression analysis, stress and resilience affected the QOL of medical students. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that stress negatively affects the QOL of medical students during clinical clerkship, which can be mitigated by resilience. Therefore, it is advisable to develop measures to ease stress and enhance resilience.