Assessment Of Mental Health And Its Association With Socio Demographic Variables Among Students

Öz

The mental health of pharmacy students has been poor compared to other disciplines and has led to personal and professional consequences. The study was conducted to assess the prevalence of mental health of pharmacy students. It includes 351 randomly selected pharmacy students from a College of Pharmacy located in South India. A self-administered questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents. A score of ≥ 3 suggested poor mental while a score < 3 represented good mental health. Data were summarized using proportions, and chi-square test was used to explore associations between categorical variables. Level of significance was set at p < 0.05. The mean age of the respondents was 23.4 ± 4.3 years, 63.8% were males, and 0.091% was from the sixth and 23.07% from the fourth year levels of study. Based on the results 39.2% had a poor mental health status, compared to 60.8% with good mental health status. The factors significantly associated with poor mental health, were recent experience of mistreatment by trainers or colleagues, perceived inadequate monthly allowance and perception that medical training is stressful (p < 0.05). More than third of undergraduate pharmacy students with traits of poor mental health, provision of accessible mental health services/counselling is strongly recommended early in their training. More than half of students were responded that, they lost their sleep over worry and they had a feeling that they couldn’t overcome difficulties. Similarly, 63.81% of students lost their self-confidence and 66.09% students thought themselves worthless.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Assessment
• Mental health status
• Pharmacy students
• Association
• Socio demographic variables

Kaynakça

1. Aktekin M, Karaman T, Senol Y, Erdem S, Erengin H, Akaydin M. 2001. Anxiety, depression and stressful life events among medical students: A prospective study in Antalya, Turkey. Medical Edu, 35: 12-17.
2. Amr M, El-Gilany A, El-Sayed M, El- Sheshtawy E. 2007. Study of stress among medical students at Mansoura University. Banha Medical J, 37(5): 25-31.
3. Assadi S, Nakhaei M, Najaf iF, Faze S. 2007. Mental health in three generations of Iranian medical students and doctors: A crosssectional study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol, 42: 57- 60.
4. Ball S, Bax A. 2002. Self-care in medical education: effectiveness of health habits interventions for first-year medical students. Acad Med, 77: 911-917.
5. Benitez C, Quintero J, Torres R. 2001. Prevalence of risk for mental disorders among undergraduate medical students at the Medical School of the Catholic University of Chile. Rev Med Chil, 129(2): 173-178.
6. Brimstone R, Thistlethwaite JE, Quirk F. 2007. Behaviour of medical students in seeking mental and physical health care: exploration and comparison with psychology students. Med Educ, 41(1): 74-83. DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2929.2006.02649.x.
7. Carson A, Dias S, Johnston A.2000. Mental health in medical students: a case control study using the 60 item General Health Questionnaire. Scott Med J, 45: 115-116.
8. Chandrashekhar TS, Pathiyil RS, Binu V, Mukhopadhyay C, Menezes RG. 2007. Psychological morbidity, sources of stress and coping strategies among undergraduate medical students of Nepal. BMC Medical Edu, 7(26): 1-8.

9. Dahlin M, Runeson B. 2007. Burnout and psychiatric morbidity among medical students entering clinical training: a three year prospective questionnaire and interview-based study. BMC Medical Edu, 7(6): 1-5.
10. Dyrbye L, Matthew R, Stanford M, Power D, Eacker A, William H, et al. 2008. Burnout and suicidal ideation among US medical students. Annals of Internal Medicine, 149(334): 8-9.
11. Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Shanafelt TD. 2006. Systematic review of depression, anxiety, and other indicators of psychological distress among US and Canadian medical students. Acad Med, 81(4): 354-73. DOI: 10.1097/00001888-200604000-00009.
12. Facundes V, Ludermir A. 2005. Common mental disorders among health care students. Braz J Psychiatry, 27(3): 194-200. DOI: 10.1590/s1516-44462005000300007.
13. Ferri CP, Ames D, Prince M. 2004. Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in developing countries. Int Psychogeriatrics, 16(4): 441–459
14. Firth J. 1986. Levels and sources of stress in medical students. British Medical J (Clinical Research and Epidemiology), 292(6529): 1177-1180.
15. Geslani GP, Gaebelein CJ. 2013. Perceived stress, stressors, and mental distress among doctor of pharmacy students. Soc Behav Personal Int J, 41(9): 1457–1468.
16. Givens J, Tjia J. 2002. Depressed medical students' use of mental health services and barriers to use. Acad Medicine, 77: 918-921.
17. Guthrie E, Black D S, CM, Hamilton J, Creed F, Tomenson B. 1995. Embarking upon a medical career: Psychological morbidity in first year medical students. Medical Education, 29(5): 3- 9.
18. Guthrie E, Black D, Bagalkote H, Shaw C, Campbell M, Creed F. 1998. Psychological stress and burnout in medical students: A five-year prospective longitudinal study. J R Soc Med, 91(5): 237-43.
19. Janula R, Chithra R A, Amna H. 2019. Impact of self-perceived academic stress on health behavior among college students: a comparison between nursing and non-nursing students, Int J Sci and Res, 8(9): 1589-1595.
20. Liam, Vivien. 1997. Moderating the effects of work-based support on the relationship between job insecurity and its consequences. Work and Stress, 11(3): 231- 266.
21. Moffat K, Mc Connachie A, Ross S, Morrison J. 2004. First year medical student stress and coping in a problem-based learning medical curriculum. Medical Edun, 38: 482-491.
22. Nivert Z, Jehan MI. 2010. Psychiatric morbidity among third year medical students at Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Middle East Curr Psychiatry, 18(1): 51–56
23. Omohkodion FO, Gureje O. 2003. Psychosocial problems of preclinical students in the University of Ibadan Medical School. African J Medicine, 32(1): 55-58.
24. Ortmeier BG, Wolfgang AP, Martin BC. 1991. Career commitment, career plans, and perceived stress: a survey of pharmacy students. Am J Pharm Educ, 55(2): 138–142.
25. Patel V, Flisher AJ, Hetrick S, McGorry P. 2007. Mental health of young people: a global public-health challenge. The Lancet, 369(9569): 1302-1313.
26. Roberts LW, Hardee JT, Franchini G, Stidley CA, Siegler M. 1996. Medical students as patients: a pilot study of their health care needs, practices, and concerns. Acad Med, 71(11): 1225-1232. DOI: 10.1097/00001888-199611000-00019.
27. Sami Abdo RA-D, Redhwan AA-N, Mustafa AA, Krishna GR. 2011. Stress and coping strategies of students in a medical faculty in Malaysia. Malaysian J Med Sci, 18(3): 57-64.
28. Sender R, Salamero M, Valles A, Valdes M. 2004. Psychological variables for identifying susceptibility to mental disorders in medical students at the University of Barcelona. MED Educ online, 9(1): 4350, DOI: 10.3402/meo.v9i.4350.
29. Shoukat S, Anis M, Kella D, Qazi F, Samad F, et al. 2010. Prevalence of Mistreatment or Belittlement among medical students – a cross sectional survey at a private medical school in Karachi, Pakistan. Plus One, 5(10): 1-7.
30. Silva RG, Figueiredo-Braga M. 2019. The roles of empathy, attachment style, and burnout in pharmacy students’ academic satisfaction. American J Pharmaceutical Edu, 83(5): 6706. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe6706.
31. WHO. 2008. Mental health challenges of young people. URL: http://wwwwhoint/mental_health/en/ (access date: 17.02.2019).
32. Yiu V. 2005. Supporting the well-being of medical students. CMAJ, 172(7): 889-890.