Mental health in three generations of Iranian medical students and doctors

Abstract

This study suggests that psychological morbidity was common in Iranian medical students and practitioners, particularly women. Women were at particular risk. A high prevalence of emotional disturbance among health care practitioners is likely to compound existing problems of health care provision.

Assessment of Mental Health among Iranian Medical Students : A Cross-Sectional Study

“…This is consistent with the findings of Jafari et al; (15) but Sherina et al found no association between the years of study in medical school and mental health (7) neither Assadi et al found any significant difference between undergraduate students, interns and postgraduates. (18) Although mean GHQ scores were not significantly different in three groups of socioeconomic status, the participants with lowest economic position had higher scores. Assadi et al also reported this; (18) similarly, being from a non-poor family was considered as a factor helping better mental health status by Yang et al (23) However, socioeconomic status in our study was self-reported and only measured by family monthly income, which might not present the exact socioeconomic position of the participants.…”

“…(18) Although mean GHQ scores were not significantly different in three groups of socioeconomic status, the participants with lowest economic position had higher scores. Assadi et al also reported this; (18) similarly, being from a non-poor family was considered as a factor helping better mental health status by Yang et al (23) However, socioeconomic status in our study was self-reported and only measured by family monthly income, which might not present the exact socioeconomic position of the participants.…”

“…(21,22) We found higher percentage of abnormal mental health status among our participants in comparison to a study conducted in Tehran University of Medical Sciences, which was 43.9%. (18) However, this difference between Shiraz and Tehran medical students' mental health status cannot be due to the difference between universities' educational curriculums; as medical educational programs are quite consistent in all the universities of Iran. Living conditions of the students are private homes or university dormitories in both cities, which may be different individually.…”

“…We think the main reason for this difference is entering graduated students and interns to the above study; but our participants were undergraduate students. (18) The higher mean scores of anxiety and especially depression rather than somatic and social subscales found in our medical students agrees with high proportion of these morbidities measured by their specific tools in United States and Canadian medical students, reported in the systematic review by Dyrbye et al (1) Although, there were no significant differences between genders, the prevalence of mental morbidity was higher in males in our study; and this is not similar to other studies' findings, which reported higher mental problems among females. (1,7,15,18) Third and fourth year medical students had higher proportions of abnormal mental health status with higher mean scores of all subscales; compared with second and first year students.…”

“…(17) Previous studies have assessed the reliability and validity of Persian form of the GHQ-28 and were of acceptable ranges from 0.73 to 0.89. (18)(19)(20) Through factor analysis, the GHQ-28 has been divided into four subscales, which are somatic symptoms (items 1-7); anxiety/insomnia (items [8][9][10][11][12][13][14]; social dysfunction (items [15][16][17][18][19][20][21], and depression (items 22-28).…”