Lifestyle behaviors and mental health in medical students
| Date | 17 December 2018 |
| Published date | 17 December 2018 |
| Pages | 210-217 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-07-2018-0039 |
| Author | Houda Ben Ayed,Sourour Yaich,Maissa Ben Jemaa,Mariem Ben Hmida,Maroua Trigui,Jihene Jedidi,Raouf Karray,Yosra Mejdoub,Habib Feki,Mondher Kassis,Jamel Damak |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Public mental health |
Lifestyle behaviors and mental health in
medical students
Houda Ben Ayed, Sourour Yaich, Maissa Ben Jemaa, Mariem Ben Hmida, Maroua Trigui,
Jihene Jedidi, Raouf Karray, Yosra Mejdoub, Habib Feki, Mondher Kassis and Jamel Damak
Abstract
Purpose –Recently, there has been a renewed interest in medical students’mental health. The purpose of
this paper is to determine factors associated with psychological distress in medical students and to assess
the correlation between major lifestyle behaviours and mental health.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey among
530 medical students randomized from a faculty of medicine in 2017. The authors used the 12-item General
Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the Simple Lifestyle Indicator Questionnaire (SLIQ) to assess mental
health and lifestyle, respectively.
Findings –The mean value of GHQ-12 and SLIQ were 4.1 ±2.8 and 6.2 ±1.4, respectively. Bivariate
correlation analysis showed that SLIQ was significantly correlated to GHQ-12 (r¼−0.26; p o0.001). The
prevalence of psychological distress (GHQ-12 ¼4) was 50.1%. The authors found that low/middle financial
situation of the family (OR ¼1.5; CI 95% ¼[1.1–2.3]), internship level, (OR ¼1.8; CI 95% ¼[1.1–3.3]),
medium/poor perceived academic performance(OR ¼2.2; CI95% ¼[1.5–3.2]) and medium/poor perceived
health status (OR ¼2.3; CI 95% ¼[1.5–3.6]) were significantly associated with psychological distress.
Multivariate analysis performing logistic regression showed that average and unhealthy lifestyle were
independently associated with psychological distress, with an adjusted OR of 3.7 (CI 95%¼[1.7–7.7]) and
5.8 (CI 95%¼[2.4–14.8]), respectively.
Originality/value –The study highlighted the magnitude and the risk factors of psychological distress in
medical students. Unhealthy lifestyle was a potential predictive of mental disorders. These findings provide
fundamental information for future researches.
Keywords Mental health, Psychological distress, Lifestyle, Medical students, General health questionnaire
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Mental health is increasingly recognised as a critical component of general public health. Recently,
there has been a growing interest in psychological distress among medical students. Medical studies
have always been considered as a popular choice in higher education, but highly stressful. The
medical programs are more competitive and bring many stressful activities for students, which can
cause adverse effects on the mental health and lead to further serious psychological disorders
(Backovic
´et al., 2013). Mental health may be influenced by fear of failure, academic overload and
patient contact, but also by lifestyle behaviours. Lifestyle includes normal and conventional daily
activities that affect the health of individuals. In general population, a bidirectional relationship between
various lifestyle factors and physical as well as mental health has been reported, with important health
improvements and wellbeing following relatively small changes in lifestyle ( Jonsdottir et al., 2010).
Therefore, identifying healthy lifestyle behaviours that promote psychological wellbeing is crucial to
prevent mental disorders (Velten et al., 2014). Prior knowledge of risk factors of mental health
disorders and early detection of vulnerable students might be of a key factor in preventing mental
disorders. Little information is available about the impact of lifestyle behaviours on mental health
among medical students. In this perspective, the purpose of this study was to analyse factors
associated with psychological distress in medical students, notably major lifestyle behaviours.
Received 11 July 2018
Revised 4 August 2018
Accepted 15 September 2018
Houda Ben Ayed, Maroua Trigui,
Mariem Ben Hmida, Jihène Jedidi
and Maissa Ben Jemaa:
substantial contribution to
conception and design of the
study, to data acquisition, or to
data analysis and interpretation.
Houda Ben Ayed, Maroua Trigui
and Maissa Ben Jemaa wrote the
paper and/or revised the paper for
important intellectual content.
Houda Ben Ayed, Raouf Karray,
Yosra Mejdoub, Mondher Kassis,
Habib Feki, Sourour Yaich and
Jamel Damak read and approved
the final version of the submitted
manuscript. All Authors revised the
manuscript and gave their
contribution to improve the paper.
All authors read and approved the
final manuscript.
The authors affiliations can be
found at the end of this article.
PAGE210
j
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH
j
VOL. 17 NO. 4 2018, pp. 210-217, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-5729 DOI 10.1108/JPMH-07-2018-0039
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