Pillay Narushni, Ramlall Suvira, Burns Jonathan K
Department of Psychiatry, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
S Afr J Psychiatr. 2016 Mar 22;22(1):731. doi: 10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v22i1.731. eCollection 2016.
The majority of studies on spirituality demonstrate its positive association with mental health. Despite the increasing number of studies, there remains a dearth of studies emanating from African countries looking at the relationship between mental illness, quality of life and measures of spirituality. The present study evaluates the role of spirituality in relation to current depression and quality of life in medical students, who are known to be at high risk for depression.
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of moderate and severe depressive symptoms in this population and explore potential correlations between spirituality, depression and quality of life.
230 medical students were surveyed at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Medical School, using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (Zung SDS), Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS), WHO Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL) and a demographic data sheet.
There was a high prevalence of depressive symptoms in the medical students, with a significant proportion (15.6%) showing evidence of severe depressive symptoms (indicating likely depressive illness). Those with a history of mental illness or of having attended traditional, complementary or alternate medical practitioners showed higher levels of depression. Lower spirituality was associated with non-adherence to a major religion and a history of mental illness. Quality of life was better in second and fifth year students and poorer in those with a history of mental illness.
Medical students' experiences of depression (most probably due to stress) and its relationship with spirituality and quality of life merit further investigation with a view to establishing policy guidelines for dealing with this issue.
大多数关于精神性的研究表明其与心理健康呈正相关。尽管研究数量不断增加，但来自非洲国家的、探讨精神疾病、生活质量与精神性衡量指标之间关系的研究仍然匮乏。本研究评估了精神性在医学生当前抑郁状况及生活质量方面所起的作用，医学生被认为是抑郁症的高危人群。
本研究旨在确定该人群中中度和重度抑郁症状的患病率，并探索精神性、抑郁与生活质量之间的潜在关联。
在夸祖鲁 - 纳塔尔大学医学院对230名医学生进行了调查，使用了zung自评抑郁量表（Zung SDS）、精神参与和信念量表（SIBS）、世界卫生组织生活质量量表（WHOQOL）以及一份人口统计学数据表。
医学生中抑郁症状的患病率较高，相当一部分（15.6%）表现出严重抑郁症状（表明可能患有抑郁症）。有精神疾病史或曾看过传统、补充或替代医学从业者的学生抑郁水平更高。较低的精神性与不坚持主要宗教信仰和精神疾病史有关。二、五年级学生的生活质量较好，有精神疾病史的学生生活质量较差。
医学生的抑郁经历（很可能是由于压力）及其与精神性和生活质量的关系值得进一步研究，以便制定应对这一问题的政策指南。
