A descriptive study of mental health and wellbeing of doctors and medical students in the UK

AbstractIntroduction: Recent research has revealed high rates of mental health issues in postgraduate researchers (PGRs). Mental ill-health is a barrier to life satisfaction and academic success. More knowledge is necessary to understand the extent and origins of mental health problems of PGRs in the UK. Aims: To assess the prevalence of anxiety, depression, sleep problems, subjective mental wellbeing, and suicide behaviours of PGRs in the UK, as well as to explore the factors that underpin these outcomes.Methods: An online survey (N=479) was used to measure the mental health outcomes, and assess the influence of demographic, trait and academic variables, and social support. Results: In this sample the prevalence of mental ill-health was high, while wellbeing was lower than in the general population. Female, non-binary and non-heterosexual PGRs had poorer mental health than their male and/or heterosexual counterparts. Researchers in the field of Arts had higher levels of wellbeing, while those in the 5th year of study or above were at a higher risk of suicidal behaviours. Resilience, adaptive perfectionism, social support and positive evaluations of progress and preparation, departmental climate, and supervisory relationship were associated with positive outcomes, while maladaptive perfectionism and workaholism were linked to the negative ones. Resilience and workaholism were the only variables that played a role in all mental health outcomes.Conclusions: The current paper contributes new knowledge about the PGR wellbeing, the prevalence of mental health symptoms, and some of the factors that shape them. Our findings imply that institutional efforts to improve PGR mental health and wellbeing should include a variety of strategies to promote equality, diversity, resilience, integration and work-life balance of PGRs.

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Prevalence of Depression among the Medical Students in Nepalgunj Medical College

Journal of Nepalgunj Medical College ◽

10.3126/jngmc.v18i2.38876 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 17-21

Author(s):

Binod Kumar Yadav ◽

Gaurav Jung Shah ◽

Rahul Yadav ◽

Rajendra Mahat ◽

Aayush Joshi

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Medical Students ◽

Health Problem ◽

Descriptive Study ◽

Medical Studies ◽

Medical College ◽

Common Mental Health Problem ◽

Pocket Money ◽

Prevalence Of Depression ◽

The World

Introduction: Mental health is an important aspect of overall health of a person. Depression is a common mental health problem all around the world. According to WHO, as many as 350 million people suffer from depression all over the globe. Medical studies are well known to be stressful for students and psychological problems like depression are quite common among medical students. Although many studies are done on mental health of students worldwide, studies on depression among medical students of Nepal are quite few. Aims: To find out the prevalence of depression among medical students in Nepalgunj Medical College. Methods: A descriptive study was done in the batch of 2016 with a Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) Questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of depression among the study subjects was found to be 25.9%. Bullying was found to be a strong factor responsible for depression among medical students. Conclusion: Depression was highly prevalent among the medical students. Students who were bullied and had appropriate pocket money suffered from higher levels of depression.

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Going outdoors, neighbourhood satisfaction and mental health and wellbeing during a COVID-19 lockdown: A fixed-effects analysis

10.31234/osf.io/8pjmt ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Stock ◽

Feifei Bu ◽

Daisy Fancourt ◽

Hei Wan Mak

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Life Satisfaction ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Living Arrangement ◽

Positive Association ◽

Social Study ◽

Anxiety Symptoms ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Longitudinal Association ◽

The Uk

The COVID-19 pandemic led to national lockdowns in countries around the world. Whilst lockdowns were shown to be effective in reducing the spread of disease, they were also associated with adverse effects on people’s mental health and wellbeing. Previous studies have suggested that time spent outside may have played a role in mitigating these negative effects, but research on this topic remains limited. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the longitudinal associations between going outdoors and people’s mental health and wellbeing during the first national lockdown (March-May 2020) in the UK. Data from 35,301 participants from the COVID-19 Social Study were analysed. Fixed effects regression was used to explore the longitudinal association between changes in going outdoors (the number of days spent outside) and changes in depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, life satisfaction and loneliness. A range of household and neighbourhood moderators were examined. Results show that an increase in the number of days spent outside was associated with decreases in depressive and anxiety symptoms and an increase in life satisfaction. No longitudinal association was found with loneliness. Further analysis revealed some moderating effects of household and neighbourhood factors, including living arrangement, perceived walkability satisfaction, and satisfaction with green space/park within neighbourhood. Overall, our analyses showed a positive association between going outdoors and improved mental health and wellbeing during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK. Associations were more salient amongst people living with others, and those with greater satisfaction with their neighbourhood walkability and green spaces. These findings are important for formulating guidance for people to stay well at home during pandemics and for the on-going nature-based social prescribing scheme.

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Perfectionism

Advances in Medical Education, Research, and Ethics - Exploring the Pressures of Medical Education From a Mental Health and Wellness Perspective ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-2811-1.ch003 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 68-91

Author(s):

Samantha Ilia Smith ◽

Mitchell Dandignac

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Medical Students ◽

Medical School ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Maladaptive Perfectionism ◽

Medical Educators ◽

Attention To Detail

Perfectionism is the refusal to accept any standard short of perfect. Perfectionist students might strive for ‘faultless performance, meticulous attention to detail and high levels of competency' (Humphris & Kaney, 1998). In a field as complex and advanced as medicine, faultless performance is unrealistically expected. This chapter will discuss how the rigours of medical school promote perfectionistic behaviours in students. What is perfectionism? How does perfectionism in medical school affect students? How can educators and administrators identify perfectionism, provide psychoeducation, or address maladaptive perfectionism? How can students address perfectionism? It is essential to recognise perfectionism in medical students as research has shown that maladaptive perfectionism has been correlated to physician suicide (Scutti, 2014). The chapter concludes with recommendations on how students and medical educators can employ strategies to promote sound mental health and wellbeing during medical school.

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Wellbeing and mental health amongst medical students in Jordan: a descriptive study

International Review of Psychiatry ◽

10.1080/09540261.2019.1670402 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (7-8) ◽

pp. 619-625 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rawan Masri ◽

Murtaza Kadhum ◽

Sarah Marie Farrell ◽

Almu’atasim Khamees ◽

Hasanen Al-Taiar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Medical Students ◽

Descriptive Study

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Medical students and mental health: the UK perspective

The Clinical Teacher ◽

10.1111/j.1743-498x.2007.00196.x ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 83-87 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Patricia Hughes ◽

Andrew Kent ◽

Deborah Bowman

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Medical Students ◽

The Uk

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The Mental Health and Wellbeing of EU Citizens in the UK: A Systematic Review of the Qualitative Literature

BORDER CROSSING ◽

10.33182/bc.v10i1.976 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 43-60

Author(s):

Piotr Teodorowski ◽

Ruth Woods ◽

Catriona Kennedy

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Social Connectedness ◽

Web Of Science ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

The Uk ◽

Migration Experiences ◽

Qualitative Literature

Moving to a new country impacts on migrants’ mental health and wellbeing. There are over 3.6 million European Union citizens living in the United Kingdom. We conducted a systematic review of the qualitative literature to explore what is known about their mental health and wellbeing at the post-migration stage in pre-Brexit period. We searched five databases from 1st January 2009 to 19th February 2019; Web of Science, MEDLINE, CINAHL, SocIndex and Scopus for studies. Ten papers reporting nine studies were included in this review. Two themes were constructed; a narrative of adjustment and of employment realities. The former focuses on the process of settling in and the role of social connectedness. The latter concerns employment realities with included studies exploring the financial position and employment experiences of migrants. Findings indicate that we still know relatively little about the range of post-migration experiences among EU citizens and their implications for mental health

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