1. Cultural variations in wellbeing, burnout and substance use amongst medical students in twelve countries
- Author
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Fiona Moir, Murtaza Kadhum, Maha Lemtiri Chelieh, João Mauricio Castaldelli-Maia, Steven W H Chau, Telma Falcão de Almeida, Dinesh Bhugra, Andrew Molodynski, Rawan Masri, Sarah Marie Farrell, Chris Wilkes, Anindya Kar, Umberto Volpe, Thomas Lewis, and Julio Torales
- Subjects
High rate ,Students, Medical ,Substance-Related Disorders ,education ,Burnout ,medicine.disease ,Mental health ,030227 psychiatry ,Substance abuse ,03 medical and health sciences ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Distress ,0302 clinical medicine ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,medicine ,Substance misuse ,Humans ,Substance use ,Psychology ,Burnout, Professional ,Stress, Psychological ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Clinical psychology ,Qualitative research - Abstract
High levels of stress, burnout, and symptoms of poor mental health have been well known among practicing doctors for a number of years. Indeed, many health systems have formal and informal mechanisms to offer support and treatment where needed, though this varies tremendously across cultures. There is increasing evidence that current medical students, our doctors of the future, also report very high levels of distress, burnout, and substance misuse. We sampled large groups of medical students in 12 countries at the same time and with exactly the same method in order to aid direct comparison. 3766 students responded to our survey across five continents in what we believe is a global first. Our results show that students in all 12 countries report very high levels of 'caseness' on validated measures of psychiatric symptoms and burnout. Rates of substance misuse, often a cause of or coping mechanism for this distress, and identified sources of stress also varied across cultures. Variations are strongly influenced by cultural factors. Further quantitative and qualitative research is required to confirm our results and further delineate the causes for high rates of psychiatric symptoms and burnout. Studies should also focus on the implementation of strategies to safeguard and identify those most at risk.
- Published
- 2020