Psychological Health of Undergraduate Medical Students and Its Associated Factors in A Tertiary Institution, South-South, Nigeria.
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Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that many mental health conditions first appear before 24 years of age. Thus, the undergraduate period is especially crucial for the psychological health of medical students as they are a vulnerable population. This study assessed the psychological health of undergraduate medical students and its associated factors in a tertiary institution in Nigeria.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out from December, 2021 to February, 2023 among 611 undergraduate medical students in the School of Medicine, University of Benin, Nigeria, using stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a semi-structured self-administered questionnaire adapting the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Univariate and Bivariate analysis was done using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 25 software.
Results: Two-thirds of respondents were at increased risk of psychological ill-health, 402 (65.8%), having had a GHQ-28 score of 4 and above. A statistically significant relationship was also found between course satisfaction and psychological health as majority 134 (74.0%) of respondents who were dissatisfied were at increased risk of psychological ill-health (p-value = 0.005).
Conclusion: The risk of psychological ill-health was high among undergraduate medical students. Various sociodemographic, socioeconomic and academic factors influenced their risk of psychological ill-health. Consequently, fostering the psychological health of medical students becomes an imperative, directly cultivating a resilient and effective future healthcare workforce.
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