Department of Medicine of Community, Information and Health Decision Sciences (MEDCIDS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
J Environ Public Health. 2020 Sep 3;2020:6183757. doi: 10.1155/2020/6183757. eCollection 2020.
The medical course is extremely stimulating but also demanding, and it can interfere with students' mental health. Stress leads to lower life quality, academic performance, and ultimately to a lower quality of patient care delivered.
To analyse stress levels of sixth-year medical students who attend Portuguese colleges. . This observational cross-sectional study involved Portuguese medical students attending the sixth year of all Portuguese faculties. We applied an online self-response questionnaire, including the 10 items Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to assess stress levels and sociodemographic variables. Logistic regression was used to estimate the weight of the studied determinants on stress levels.
A total of 501 participants were included for analysis (69.5% females), with a median age of 24 years old. We found significant levels of stress in 49.9% (95% CI: 45.5-54.3%), with 20.8% of total students presenting extremely high levels, irrespective of age, gender, and faculty. Stress was higher when students presented bad sleeping and eating habits, lack of ability to manage time, dissatisfaction with social life and academic experience, and low family support. Also, these students are more worried about their future and present a higher degree of concern about their graduation test performance.
This study found high stress levels among Portuguese medical students, associated with social determinants and the intrinsic complexity of the course. This is worrying, and it elucidates the importance of coping strategies to make students deal with stress and be healthier, currently and in the future.
医学课程极具挑战性，但也要求很高，可能会干扰学生的心理健康。压力会导致生活质量下降、学业表现下降，最终导致患者护理质量下降。
分析参加葡萄牙医学院的六年级医学生的压力水平。本观察性横断面研究涉及所有葡萄牙医学院校六年级的葡萄牙医学生。我们应用了在线自我反应问卷，包括 10 项感知压力量表（PSS）来评估压力水平和社会人口统计学变量。使用逻辑回归来估计研究因素对压力水平的权重。
共有 501 名参与者（69.5%为女性）被纳入分析，中位数年龄为 24 岁。我们发现 49.9%（95%CI：45.5-54.3%）的学生存在显著的压力水平，无论年龄、性别和学院如何，20.8%的学生总压力水平极高。当学生表现出不良的睡眠和饮食习惯、缺乏时间管理能力、对社交生活和学术经验不满以及家庭支持不足时，压力会更大。此外，这些学生对未来更加担忧，对毕业考试成绩更加关注。
本研究发现葡萄牙医学生的压力水平较高，与社会决定因素和课程的内在复杂性有关。这令人担忧，也说明了应对策略的重要性，以使学生应对压力，保持健康，无论是现在还是将来。
