Mental health of medical students before and during medical education: a prospective study

ABSTRACT

The mental health of prospective medical students has been associated with ethnic group, extracurricular activity, parents' educational level and previous academic achievement in some studies but not in others. The aim of this study was to explore relations between medical students' socio-demographic profiles and mental health before and during the first year of medical education. A cohort of medical students in Malaysia was studied prospectively. Stress, anxiety and depression symptoms were measured on the 21 -item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale during the interview before the onset of medical education [time 0], after 2 months [time 1], 4 months [time 2] and 6 months [time 3] and at the final examination [time 4]. A repeated-measure ANOVA was performed to determine factors associated with mental health over the five intervals. Significantly lower scores were found for stress, anxiety and depression with higher father's educational level and lower scores for stress and anxiety with extracurricular activity and higher mother's educational level. Malay students had more anxiety symptoms than students of other races, and female students had lower scores for depression than males. Measures should be provided to prevent these symptoms and support medical students' well-being