What do medical students think about their quality of life? A qualitative study

BMC Medical Education

Lilia B Schraiber¹  Milton A Martins¹  Sylvia C Enns¹  Helena BMS Paro²  Patricia L Bellodi¹  Patricia Tempski¹ 

[1] Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr. Arnaldo, 455 – Cerqueira César, São Paulo, SP, 01246-903, Brazil;Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Av. Pará, 1720 - Umuarama, Uberlândia, MG, 38408-144, Brazil

关键词: Medical education;    Medical;    Student;    Quality of life;   

Others  :  1153199
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6920-12-106

 received in 2012-03-07, accepted in 2012-10-25,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Medical 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.

Methods

First- 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.

Results

Students 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.

Conclusion

Quality 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.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Tempski et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Wolf TM: Stress, coping and health: enhancing well-being during medical school. Med Educ 1994, 28:8-17.
• [2]Finkelstein C, Brownstein A, Scott C, Lan Y: Anxiety and stress reduction in medical education: an intervention. Med Educ 2007, 41:258-264.
• [3]Graham CAC, Rogers A, Yassin N: “I wouldn’t want it on my CV or their records”: medical students experience of help-seeking for mental health problems. Med Educ 2003, 37:873-880.
• [4]Bonne O, Segman R, Kaplan A: Emotional distress in Israeli medical students. Harefuah 2003, 142:588-591.
• [5]Chan DW: Depressive symptoms and depressed mood among Chinese medical students in Hong Kong. Compr Psych 1991, 32:170-180.
• [6]Johns MW, Dudley HAF, Masterton JP: The sleep habits, personality and academic performance of medical students. Med Educ 1976, 10:158-162.
• [7]Johns M: A New Method for Measuring Daytime Sleepiness: The Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Sleep 1991, 14:540-545.
• [8]Alóe F, Pedroso A, Tavares SM: Epworth Sleepiness Scale Outcome in 616 Brazilian Medical Students. Arq. Neuropsiq 1997, 55:220-226.
• [9]Tempski-Fiedler P: Avaliação da qualidade de vida do estudante de medicina e da influência exercida pela formação acadêmica. São Paulo: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo; 2008. [PhD thesis]
• [10]Parkernson GR, Broadhead WE, Tse CJ: The Health Status and Life Satisfaction of First-year Medical Students. Acad Med 1990, 65:586-587.
• [11]Tempski P, Perotta B, Pose RA, Vieira JE: A questionnaire on the quality of life of medical students. Med Educ 2009, 43:1107-1108.
• [12]WHOQOL Group: The World Health Organization quality of life assessment (WHOQOL): position paper from the World Health Organization. Soc Sci Med 1995, 10:1403-1409.
• [13]WHOQOL Group: Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOL-Bref quality of life assessment. Psychol Med 1998, 28:551-558.
• [14]Bullinger M: Generic quality of life assessment in psychiatry, Potential and limitations. Eur Psych 1997, 12:203-209.
• [15]Merton R, Fisk M, Kendall P: The focused interview: a report of the bureau of applied social research. New York: Columbia University; 1956.
• [16]Denzin NK: The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1978.
• [17]Denzin N, Lincoln YS: The Landscape of Qualitative Research: Theories and issues. 2ed. USA: Sage Publications Inc; 2003.
• [18]Patton MQ: Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. 2ed. London: SAGE Publications Inc; 1990.
• [19]Frenk J, Chen L, Bhutta ZA, Cohen J, Crisp N, Evans T, Fineberg H, Garcia P, Ke Y, Kelley P, Kistnasamy B, Meleis A, Naylor D, Pablos-Mendez A, Reddy S, Scrimshaw S, Sepulveda J, Serwadda D, Zurayk H: Health professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world. Lancet 2010, 376:1923-1958.
• [20]Ball SE, Bax A: Self-care in Medical Education: Effectiveness of Health – Habits Interventions for First-Year Medical Students. Acad Med 2002, 77:911-917.
• [21]Paro HBMS, Morales NMO, Silva CHM, Rezende CHA, Pinto RMC, Morales RR, Mendonça TMS, Prado MM: Health-related quality of life of medical students. Med Educ 2009, 44:227-235.
• [22]International Monetary Fund: Brazil: 2012 Article IV Consultation—Staff Report; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Brazil. IMF Country Report No. 12/191, 2012 [cited 2012 Sept 12]. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2012/cr12191.pdf webcite
• [23]Schraiber LB: The medical profession: representation, work and change [Article in Spanish]. Educ Med Salud 1991, 25:58-71.
• [24]Schraiber LB, [Scholastic preparation, professional training, and quality of health services] [Article in Spanish]: Educ Med Salud. 1994, 28:157-170.
• [25]Freire P: Pedagogy of freedom: ethics, democracy and civic courage. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc; 1998.
• [26]Wilson JF, Johnson MM, Studts JL, Ela MCL: Student’s Quality of Life After a Major Curriculum Change. Acad Med 1996, 71:40-42.
• [27]Rutter M: Resilience in the face of adversity: Protective factors and resistance to psychiatric disorder. Br J of Psych 1985, 147:598-611.
• [28]Tempski P, Martins MA, Paro HBMS: Teaching and learning resilience: a new agenda in medical education. Med Educ 2012, 46:345-346.
• [29]Howe A, Smajdor A, Stöckl A: Towards an understanding of resilience and its relevance to medical training. Med Educ 2012, 46:349-356.