Sociodemographic and educational factors associated with mental health disorders in medical students of clinical years: A multicenter study in Peru
Author(s)
Pamela Grados‐Espinoza
Kateriny Margot Regalado-Rodríguez
Frank Sosa-Nuñez
Abimegireysch Alcarraz-Jaime
Andrea G. Cortez-Soto
Diego Chambergo‐Michilot
Date Issued
26 de junio de 2023
Type
Article
Volume
18
Issue
6
Start Page
e0286338
End Page
e0286338
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To identify sociodemographic and educational factors associated with mental health disorders in Peruvian medical students in clinical years. METHODS: Cross-sectional study. We surveyed students from 24 Peruvian medical schools. We defined negative perception of educational environment as having a Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure score below 100 points; we defined anxiety and depression as having more than 4 points on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scales, respectively. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to assess the association between negative perception of educational environment and mental health alterations. RESULTS: Among the 808 participants, the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms was 77.6% and 67.3%, respectively. Negative perception of the educational environment was 31.6%. The factors associated with anxiety were being male (PR = 0.95, 95% CI:0.91-0.98), previous medical condition (Prevalence ratios PR = 1.10, 95% CI:1.05-1.16), previous diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (PR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.93-0.94), being from highlands (PR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.05-1.16), studying at a national university (PR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.88-0.92), and negative perception of the educational environment (PR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.03-1.05), while factors associated with depression were being male (PR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.93-0.95), previous medical condition (PR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.08-1.17), type of university (national) (PR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.95-0.96), and negative perception of the educational environment (PR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.07-1.16). CONCLUSION: We found evidence that during the COVID-19 pandemic anxiety and depression are prevalent among Peruvian medical students. Sociodemographic factors and negative perception of educational environment were associated with the presence of these conditions.
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