Psychological distress among final year medical undergraduates in a Sri Lankan university

Abstract

Background: Studying medicine is challenging since medical students undergo many stressors during their long course of studying. Moreover, their final year is probably more stressful with more clinical work and stringent assessments. Aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and sources of psychological distress among final year students in University of Sri Jayewardenepura in Sri Lanka with a well validated screening tool. Methods: This is a cross sectional study of 151 medical students evaluating stress through general health questionnaire (GHQ) with 30 items. Comparison was made with another 257 non-medical undergraduates of the same university. Results: More than half of students (59.6%) in our university had psychological distress. When compared medical students (62.9%) are more distressed than non-medical (56.4%) students. Major source of stress for medical students was academic pressure. Conclusions: Final year medical students have significantly high psychological impairment and the main reason reported by students was academic pressure. It warrants implementation of stress management programs and curriculum based interventions to minimize stress.