scholarly journals Effects of COVID-19 Lockdown on mental health of medical students in Lahore, Pakistan

2021 ◽  
pp. 125-130
Author(s):  
Shamaila Hassnain ◽  
Adila Ahmad ◽  
Muhammad Saad Qayyum ◽  
Muhammad Gulraiz Farrukh ◽  
Usama Ahsan Nawaz ◽  
...  

Objective: The objective isto assess the effects of lockdown on mental health of medical students of a Private medical college in Lahore. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study has been conducted to assess the mental health status of medical students during lockdown using the designed scale DASS 21. The reliability of scale was tested using Cronbach alpha. The scale is based on 3 sub-scales used to measure depression, anxiety and stress. A sample of size 230 students from different years of MBBS is used. The data was analyzed using SPSS 21.0 Results & Discussion:The proportion of females participated in study was comparatively higher. The females were observed as more depressive. As observed 62.6% of medical students suffered from mild to very severe depression during the lockdown period.Anxiety was observed among 52% of the students. More than half dealt with various levels of anxiety and faced stress. Conclusion: COVID-19 has caused extensive distress in the lives and mental health of millions of medical students. The findings of this study indicate that depression, anxiety and stress are common morbidities amongst medical students, particularly those in their clinical training years. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.20(5) 2021 p.125-130

Author(s):  
Farzana Hamid ◽  
Syed Ahmad Moosa ◽  
Syed Moosa M.A. Quaium ◽  
A. K. Fazlul Haque

Background: Depression is not uncommon among medical students all over the world. Few studies have been conducted so far in Bangladesh to depict its actual prevalence and severity. So, the aim of this study was to assess the severity of depression and the level of difficulty faced by medical students in different academic years.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in North East medical college of Bangladesh from January 2018 to June 2018 involving 443 students from 1st year to 5th year. Students were instructed to fill up the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) which incorporates diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV) depression diagnostic criteria categorized as no, mild, moderate, moderately severe, and severe depression and also evaluates their level of function.Results: The prevalence of depression was quite high (79.68%). 196 (44.24%) and 157 (35.44%) students had mild and major depression respectively, while 90 (20.32%) showed no depression. Students with major depression were scored as moderate depression 24.38%, moderately severe depression 8.35%, and severe depression 2.71%. Moderate depression was significantly higher in year 1 and year 2 students in comparison to year 3, 4 and 5. Students from year 1 to year 5 with mild, moderate, moderately severe and severe depression experienced varying degree of difficulty in their daily activities. Almost all the students in all years with severe depression found themselves very difficult or extremely difficult to cope.Conclusions: High prevalence of depression among medical students is really alarming and underlying factors need to be addressed.


Author(s):  
Rupesh D. Shinde ◽  
Shekhar S. Rajderkar

Background: Internet addiction was first studied in 1996 and findings were presented to American Psychological Association. Recent studies examined the prevalence of Internet addiction and investigated its causes. Internet users in India are around 205 million. Internet usage among medical students is high. Internet addiction has both physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms. This study aims to understand the patterns of internet use and its effects on mental health among medical college students. The objectives of the study were to study the patterns of internet usage among medical college students and to study the depression in them and its relation to internet usage.Methods: Cross sectional study was conducted in government medical college. Taking prevalence of mild internet addiction 34% from previous Indian studies, minimum sample size of 90 was calculated. 23 students of 1st, 2nd 3rd year and internship were randomly chosen for study. Pretested Young’s 20-item IAT scale and DASS 21 questionnaire was used for the study. Statistical analysis was done using percentage and chi square test.Results: Mild internet addiction was found in one third of medical students. Depression is seen in 61% of students with internet addiction.Conclusions: Internet addiction is affecting mental health of medical students.


Author(s):  
Joseph Jose ◽  
Sruthi M. V.

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) defines physical activity as “any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. Since medical education is considered stressful due to voluminous academics, it leaves little time for the students to relax and recreate. Hence the present study had been undertaken with an aim to study various trends of physical activity, health status and academic performance among medical students and to find out any association between physical activity and health status, academic performance of medical students.Methods: A cross-sectional study had been undertaken among 2nd and 3rd year MBBS students of our medical college. Physical activity was assessed using GPAQ version 2 questionnaire and mental status of students was measured using hospital anxiety and depression scale. Height, weight, and BMI, of each student along with demographic details were collected. The total percentage of any one of the internal marks of each student was taken for assessing the academic performance.Results: Out of total 150 medical students it was found that 44% of medical students were physically inactive and 40.7% of them were highly active. Majority of female students 70.3% were physically inactive and overweight and obesity were higher among them when compared with male students. But anxiety and depressive symptoms were higher among male students. There was statistically significant difference in association between level of physical activity and mental health. The academic performance also increased with increase in physical activity.Conclusions: Physical activity and mental health are related proportionally and it bears a positive influence on the education of the youth. The regular physical activity improves the mental status and academic performance among students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuchen Ying ◽  
Liemin Ruan ◽  
Fanqian Kong ◽  
Binbin Zhu ◽  
Yunxin Ji ◽  
...  

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (12) ◽  
pp. 832-840
Author(s):  
Katti Sathaporn ◽  
Jarurin Pitanupong

Objective: To determine the level of and factors associated with empathy among medical students.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study surveyed all first- to sixth-year medical students at the Facultyof Medicines, Prince of Songkla University, at the end of the 2020 academic year. The questionnaires consisted of:1) The personal and demographic information questionnaire, 2) The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, and 3) ThaiMental Health Indicator-15. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and factors associated with empathylevel were assessed via chi-square and logistic regression analyses.Results: There were 1010 participants with response rate of 94%. Most of them were female (59%). More than half(54.9%) reported a high level of empathy. There was a statistically significant difference in empathy levels betweenpre-clinical and clinical medical students; in regards to empathy subgroups (P-value < 0.001). The assessment ofemotional states in others by demonstrating appropriate sensitivity behavior, altruism, and empathic respondingscores among the pre-clinical group were higher than those of the clinical group. Multivariate analysis indicatedthat female gender, pre-clinical training level, and minor specialty preference were factors associated with empathylevel. The protective factor that significantly improved the level of empathy was having fair to good mental health.Conclusion: More than half of the surveyed medical students reported a high level of empathy. The protective factorthat improved the level of empathy was good mental health. However, future qualitative methods, longitudinalsurveillance, or long-term follow-up designs are required to ensure the trustworthiness of these findings.


Mediscope ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-107
Author(s):  
Md Abul Hasanat ◽  
Silvia Paroi ◽  
Arifa Begum ◽  
Umme Salma ◽  
Syeda Farzana Yeasmin

Background: Medical education is stressful throughout the whole course. Due to the medical curriculum and the examination pattern leads to psychological stress. Stressful condition leads to irregularity in diet, frequent fast food consumption & lack of exercise, each being considered as an important risk factor leading to overweight and obesity. Hence, this study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of obesity, overweight and weight awareness among the medical students. Objectives: Determination of BMI status of undergraduate medical students to evaluate their weight awareness, prevalence of overweight and obesity and also find out the relationship of the following risk factors with obesity & overweight; i) Opinion about self-image, ii) Physical activity and iii) Frequency of fast food consumption. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on 131 preclinical medical students of Ad-din Akij Medical College, Khulna from January 2018 to April 2018. Height and weight of 131 preclinical students were measured and Body Mass Index was calculated and categorized according to WHO criteria. Results: Out of 131 students 62% come under normal weight category, 21% come under overweight category, 10% come under obese category and 7% come under underweight category. Conclusion: Overweight is a rising problem among the medical students. Sedentary life style and frequency of fast food consumption was high among the overweight and obese students. This study itself created awareness about their weight and promote physical activity among the medical students. Mediscope Vol. 7, No. 2: July 2020, Page 103-107


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