Medical students’ perception towards mental health recovery: a descriptive qualitative study

Abstract

The conceptualisation of recovery in mental healthcare, for which two definitions (‘clinical’ and ‘personal’) prevail, remains inconclusive. In most curricula of medical education, undergraduates are taught straightforward concepts of clinical recovery, which result in their perfunctory and rudimentary understanding. A qualitative descriptive approach was adopted to explore medical undergraduates’ perceptions of recovery for people with mental health conditions. Participants were recruited from a Singapore-based university through convenience sampling; the required sample size was determined by data saturation. Individual face-to-face interviews were conducted through Zoom, an online conferencing platform using semi-structured questions from March to July 2021. Recordings of the interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist guided the reporting of this study. Seventeen medical students with the majority (fifteen) of them in their fourth year of medical undergraduate education participated in this study. Four themes were identified: the relationship between mental illnesses and well-being; opinions on mental well-being; understanding of mental illnesses; and perceptions of recovery from mental illnesses. The medical undergraduates in this study predominantly conceptualised recovery based on functions, although many also agreed on respecting patients’ perspectives in defining it. This aligns with contemporary approaches that emphasise more shared decision-making opportunities and empowering people with mental health conditions. Accordingly, our findings highlighted the need for foundational medical education to incorporate these constructs in their curricula and strategise to provide more meaningful discussions about them.

The Role of Human Resource Management in Employee Well-Being and Mental Health: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Preferences for participation in decision-making among patients with anxiety and depression indicate a strong inclination towards shared decision-making interventions (Patel & Bakken, 2010). This aligns with contemporary approaches emphasizing shared decision-making opportunities to empower individuals with mental health conditions (Kuek et al, 2022).…”

Occupational therapy students’ perception on mental health recovery: A descriptive qualitative exploration

“…Additionally, because the participating OT undergraduates were taught the biopsychosocial model of MHCs, their characterisation of the causes conformed to that of nursing and medical student populations in Singapore (Chua et al, 2021; Kuek et al, 2022). While this frequently adopted model is rigorous as a basic explanatory tool, the incorporation of cultural factors such as spirituality and religious beliefs may better expose OT undergraduates to the broader lens commonly used in society to perceive MHCs.…”

Perspectives on mental health services for medical students at a Ugandan medical school

“…Despite many studies conducted about students’ perspective about mental illness [ 15 , 30 , 31 ], no study has previously been conducted to assess perspectives related to mental health services offered to students. This qualitative study described the perspectives and experiences of student leaders, university administrators, and university counsellors with the mental health services offered at the MUST in Uganda for medical students.…”