Prevalence of poor mental health among medical students in Nepal: a cross-sectional study

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Supriya Sapkota¹  Abina Chapagain¹  Aman Dutta¹  Amita Pradhan¹  Arjab Adhikari¹  Anurag Aryal² 

[1] KIST Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Lalitpur, Nepal;Kathmandu Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal;

关键词: Mental health;    Medical students;    Nepal;    Depression;    Anxiety;    Eating disorder;    Somatic symptoms;    Suicidal ideation;    Dropping out;    Marijuana;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-017-1083-0

 received in 2017-04-22, accepted in 2017-11-21,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPoor mental health among medical students is widely acknowledged. Studies on mental health among medical students of Nepal are lacking. Therefore, we conducted a study to determine the prevalence of mental disorders.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students at KIST Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Nepal from December 2016 to February 2017. Our survey instrument consisted of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and questions about socio-demographic factors, smoking, marijuana use, suicidal ideation and thoughts of dropping out of medical school.ResultsThe prevalence rates were 29.2% (95% CI, 24.4% – 34.3%) depression, 22.4% (95% CI, 18.0% – 26.9%) medium to highly severe somatic symptoms, 4.1% (95% CI, 2.0% – 6.2%) panic syndrome, 5.8% (95% CI, 3.4% – 8.3%) other anxiety syndrome, 5% (95% CI, 2.7% – 7.3%) binge eating disorder and 1.2% (95% CI, 0.0% - 2.3%) bulimia nervosa. Sixteen students [4.7% (95% CI, 2.4% – 6.9%)] seriously considered committing suicide while in medical school. Thirty-four students [9.9% (95% CI, 6.8% – 13.1%)] considered dropping out of medical school within the past month. About 15% (95% CI, 11.1% – 18.6%) of the students reported use of marijuana during medical school.ConclusionsWe found high prevalence of poor mental health among medical students of Nepal. Future studies are required to identify the factors associated with poor mental health.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017