<p>Anxiety and Its Association with Preparation for Future Specialty: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Medical Students, Saudi Arabia</p>

Abstract

Background: Anxiety disorders are a significant global health concern with destructive morbidity and mortality. Medical school is a stressful environment worldwide. This study measures the prevalence of anxiety symptoms among clinical-year medical students in Saudi Arabia. As well as to explore its association with students' sociodemographic factors, academic performance, issues experienced by them during the study of medicine, and their perceived readiness for their future specialties. Methods: The generalized anxiety disorder (GAD-7) tool along with a sociodemographic questionnaire was distributed to 523 clinical-year medical students (fourth, fifth and sixth years) from the Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, in this crosssectional study. Data analysis was performed with SPSS version 23 and it included the Chi-Square or Fisher's exact tests for bivariate analysis, and the multivariable logistic regression to account for confounders. Results: The prevalence of anxiety symptoms as measured by the GAD-7 was found to be 31.7%. Of these, 14.3% had severe symptoms. Only 4.4% students went to a healthcare professional and were diagnosed with psychiatric problems. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the odds of anxiety was higher among females and students who had perceived psychological problems. However, students' grade point average (GPA) and perceived readiness for their future specialty were not statistically significant with anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: Anxiety was highly prevalent among clinical-year medical students included in this study. This urges periodic mental health screening, proper diagnosis of high-risk individuals in medical schools, and early interventions through confidential access to mental health services.

Social anxiety disorder and its associated factors: a cross-sectional study among medical students, Saudi Arabia

“…This may be explained by the fact that medical school environments are highly competitive; students are working hard to achieve higher grades and GPA to look for opportunities in the postgraduate residency programs and jobs. These stressors make medical students vulnerable to mental health problems [ 45 ]. Moreover, the presence of students with low GPA or previous failure with their high achieving colleagues could be another burden on them.…”

Reliability, Validity, and Measurement Invariance of the General Anxiety Disorder Scale Among Chinese Medical University Students

“…The reliability, validity, and diagnostic capability of the GAD-7 have been confirmed, but the majority of previous psychometric studies focused on clinical settings rather than general populations (12,23,(27)(28)(29). Although the GAD-7 has been widely used for anxiety screening among medical students (30)(31)(32), few studies have systematically evaluated its measurement properties in this sample. Besides, previous studies have focused on the psychometric performance of the overall scale, but little attention has been paid to the characteristics or measurement invariance of individual items.…”

A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies exploring prevalence of non-specific anxiety in undergraduate university students

“…Using the World Bank Classification, students were recruited from a mix of high income ( n =39), upper middle income ( n =29), and lower middle income ( n =22) countries, with only two studies conducted in low income countries [ 82 , 120 ]. The majority of included studies were conducted in Asia ( n =34) and the Middle East ( n =21): nine were in Pakistan [ 49 , 51 , 53 , 54 , 86 , 98 , 101 , 104 , 115 ], seven in Saudi Arabia [ 41 , 45 , 46 , 48 , 58 , 80 , 85 ], seven in the People's Republic of China [ 62 , 78 , 84 , 88 , 112 , 124 , 127 ] and five in Egypt [ 42 , 43 , 70 , 73 , 106 ].…”

“…Likewise, 19 studies (out of 36) found that females were more likely than males to screen above the cut-off for anxiety [ 11 , 42 , 43 , 48 , 49 , 53 , 57 , 80 , 82 , 90 , 91 , 97 , 100 , 106 , 113 , 116 , 121 , 126 ].…”