IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v68y2022i6p1289-1294.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wellbeing, psychiatric morbidity and psychological distress amongst medical students in Denmark

Author

Listed:
  • Jesper Nørgaard Kjær
  • Andrew Molodynski
  • Dinesh Bhugra
  • Thomas Lewis

Abstract

Background: Medical students in Denmark undertake a demanding 6-year course which is generally during a critical age for the development of psychiatric disorder and harmful substance or alcohol use behaviours. Previous literature has highlighted significant rates of distress in Danish students. Aims: We surveyed medical students in Denmark to better understand wellbeing, psychiatric morbidity, sources of stress, substance and alcohol use, psychological distress and burnout. Methods: Medical students were invited to participate in a single survey via email and social media which was completed through an online form, available for a 6-month period. The survey used a mixture of pre-defined answer options alongside free-text responses. Embedded within the survey were standardised and reliable specific instruments related to alcohol use (the CAGE questionnaire), overall psychological wellbeing and burnout. Results: There were 647 respondents, with a quite even year-group distribution, representing just over 16% of total number of students attending medical school in Denmark. Prior to medical school 35% had visited a professional regarding their mental health. While at medical school 16% reported a diagnosis of a mental health condition. 83% reported significant stress from study. Around 7 in 10 met case criteria using instruments designed to test for minor psychiatric morbidity and burnout. 13% tested CAGE positive, whilst 4% reported concerns from themselves or others about their substance use. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates high levels of psychiatric morbidity and worrying levels of burnout in this population. The striking 13% CAGE positive rate suggests this demographic is at risk of harm from alcohol. Our results suggest a high level of need to support this population – with further study required to demonstrate which interventions would be of most benefit for this population in light of our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Jesper Nørgaard Kjær & Andrew Molodynski & Dinesh Bhugra & Thomas Lewis, 2022. "Wellbeing, psychiatric morbidity and psychological distress amongst medical students in Denmark," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 68(6), pages 1289-1294, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:68:y:2022:i:6:p:1289-1294
    DOI: 10.1177/00207640221074916
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00207640221074916
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00207640221074916?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:68:y:2022:i:6:p:1289-1294. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.