Centre for Medical Education, Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University of Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT9 7BL, UK.
School of Psychology, Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
BMC Med Educ. 2017 Sep 12;17(1):159. doi: 10.1186/s12909-017-0992-2.
It is known that medical students suffer from high rates of mental health difficulties. In recent years there has been an increasing focus on the need to improve support and treatment services for those in difficulty. In order to meet these needs it is important to clarify the relevant aetiological factors. There is robust evidence from general population studies that a history of childhood trauma (including physical and sexual abuse and emotional neglect) predisposes to the subsequent development of mental health difficulties in adult life. It has previously been speculated that students with a history of such trauma might preferentially apply to study medicine.
This systematic review seeks to examine the existing evidence base with regard to rates of childhood trauma in medical student populations. Articles were identified through a literature search of psychINFO, web of science, Embase and medline.
This search generated 11 articles which were deemed to meet criteria for inclusion in this review. There is a wide range of results given for rates of childhood trauma in these studies.
The published research which examines rates of childhood trauma affecting medical students is limited and difficult to generalise from, or to use to draw firm conclusions. Given the possible negative outcomes of a history of childhood trauma in medical students, including that such a history may be associated with difficulties in a student progressing in their undergraduate and postgraduate examinations, well-organised prospective studies are required.
众所周知，医学生患有心理健康问题的比例很高。近年来，人们越来越关注需要改善那些有困难的人的支持和治疗服务。为了满足这些需求，澄清相关的病因因素很重要。从一般人群研究中得到了强有力的证据表明，儿童时期的创伤史（包括身体和性虐待以及情感忽视）会导致成年后心理健康问题的发生。此前有人推测，有此类创伤史的学生可能更倾向于申请医学专业。
本系统评价旨在检查医学学生群体中儿童期创伤发生率的现有证据基础。通过对心理信息、科学网、Embase 和 Medline 的文献检索，确定了文章。
该搜索共生成了 11 篇被认为符合纳入本综述标准的文章。这些研究报告的儿童期创伤发生率差异很大。
目前检查影响医学生的儿童期创伤发生率的研究数量有限，难以从这些研究中进行概括，也无法得出明确的结论。鉴于儿童期创伤史可能会对医学生产生负面影响，包括这种创伤史可能与学生在本科和研究生考试中遇到的困难有关，因此需要进行组织良好的前瞻性研究。
