Quality of Life of Medical Students: Are There Changes during Undergraduate Training?

Abstract:

Introduction:

The concept of health has been broadened beyond the absence of disease and now involves all aspects of an individual’s quality of life, including their perception of the living conditions, cultural context and value system under which they live.

Method:

The objective of this study was to analyze the quality of life of medical students at the State University of Health Sciences of Alagoas (UNCISAL), through the abbreviated World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. The BREF contains 26 questions, two of which are general about quality of life and health satisfaction, and 24 are divided into domains: physical, psychological, social relations and environment. Responses are scored from one to five, by degree of intensity. Once the raw data had been collected, mean scores and domains were calculated and converted on to a scale from 0 to 100.

Results:

Of the 188 students, 62.03% considered their quality of life good or very good, while 54.25% reported being neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their health. Furthermore, in the assessment of the domains none of the groups attained the “region of success”, with a statistically significant difference only in the physical domain (p = 0.02), in which an improvement in the scores over the course of the training is observed. First and second-year students were evaluated worse in the domains, showing that anxiety and expectation about undergraduate training can negatively affect quality of life. Regarding the domains, “sleep and rest” stands out as the worst evaluated issue, occupying the “region of failure”, followed by the question that evaluates the opportunity for leisure and recreation, probably due to the exhausting training also harming students’ physical, mental and emotional health. Regarding gender, women’s assessment was lower in all domains and general issues, with significant differences in the psychological domain (p = 0.04) and health satisfaction (p = 0.04).

Conclusion:

It is necessary to develop interventions capable of providing support to medical students, helping them to cope with the difficulties they will face during the course.

Keywords:
Quality of Life; Health; Medical Students