Office of Medical Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, United States.
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, United States.
Elife. 2022 Sep 6;11:e69960. doi: 10.7554/eLife.69960.
Concerns about the mental health of students, trainees and staff at universities and medical schools have been growing for many years. Recently, these have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and a period of heightened reckoning and protests about systemic racism in the United States in 2020. To better understand the mental health of medical students and biomedical doctoral students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during this challenging period, we performed a cross-sectional study (n=957) using institutional annual survey data on measures of depression, anxiety, hazardous alcohol use, problems related to substance use, and suicidal ideation. These data were collected in 2019 and 2020, and were analyzed by type of training program, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and survey year. Results indicated significant differences for rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, with biomedical doctoral students showing greater incidence than medical students, and historically excluded students (e.g., people of color, women, LGBQ+ trainees) showing greater incidence compared to their peers. Of note, mental health remained poor for biomedical doctoral students in 2020 and declined for those belonging to historically excluded populations. The high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation reported suggest that training environments need to be improved and support for mental health increased.
多年来，人们一直对高校和医学院学生、学员和教职员工的心理健康表示担忧。最近，由于 COVID-19 大流行以及 2020 年美国系统性种族主义的高度清算和抗议，这些担忧有所加剧。为了更好地了解北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校医学生和生物医学博士生在这一充满挑战的时期的心理健康状况，我们使用机构年度调查数据进行了一项横断面研究（n=957），这些数据衡量了抑郁、焦虑、危险饮酒、与物质使用相关的问题和自杀意念。这些数据于 2019 年和 2020 年收集，并根据培训计划类型、种族/民族、性别、性取向和调查年份进行分析。结果表明，抑郁、焦虑和自杀意念的发生率存在显著差异，生物医学博士生的发生率高于医学生，而历史上被排斥的学生（如有色人种、女性、LGBQ+学员）的发生率高于同龄人。值得注意的是，生物医学博士生的心理健康状况在 2020 年仍然较差，而属于历史上被排斥群体的学生的心理健康状况则有所下降。报告的高抑郁、焦虑和自杀意念发生率表明，培训环境需要改善，心理健康支持需要增加。
