Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Dec 11:8:60.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6920-8-60.

The characteristics of depressive symptoms in medical students during medical education and training: a cross-sectional study

Sergio Baldassin  1 , Tânia Correa de Toledo Ferraz Alves, Arthur Guerra de Andrade, Luiz Antonio Nogueira Martins
Affiliations

The characteristics of depressive symptoms in medical students during medical education and training: a cross-sectional study

Sergio Baldassin et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Medical education and training can contribute to the development of depressive symptoms that might lead to possible academic and professional consequences. We aimed to investigate the characteristics of depressive symptoms among 481 medical students (79.8% of the total who matriculated).

Methods: The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and cluster analyses were used in order to better describe the characteristics of depressive symptoms. Medical education and training in Brazil is divided into basic (1st and 2nd years), intermediate (3rd and 4th years), and internship (5th and 6th years) periods. The study organized each item from the BDI into the following three clusters: affective, cognitive, and somatic. Statistical analyses were performed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post-hoc Tukey corrected for multiple comparisons.

Results: There were 184 (38.2%) students with depressive symptoms (BDI > 9). The internship period resulted in the highest BDI scores in comparison to both the basic (p < .001) and intermediate (p < .001) periods. Affective, cognitive, and somatic clusters were significantly higher in the internship period. An exploratory analysis of possible risk factors showed that females (p = .020) not having a parent who practiced medicine (p = .016), and the internship period (p = .001) were factors for the development of depressive symptoms.

Conclusion: There is a high prevalence towards depressive symptoms among medical students, particularly females, in the internship level, mainly involving the somatic and affective clusters, and not having a parent who practiced medicine. The active assessment of these students in evaluating their depressive symptoms is important in order to prevent the development of co-morbidities and suicide risk.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Clark D, Zeldow PB. Vicissitudes of Depressed Mood during Four Years of Medical School. JAMA. 1988;260:2521–2526. doi: 10.1001/jama.260.17.2521. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mosley THJ, Perrin SG, Neral SM, Dubbert PM, Grothues CA, Pinto BM. Stress, coping, and well-being among third-year medical students. Acad Med. 1994;69:765–767. doi: 10.1097/00001888-199409000-00024. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Eacker A, Harper W, Massie FS, Jr, Power DV, Huschka M, Novotny PJ, Sloan JA, Shanafelt TD. Race, ethnicity, and medical student well-being in the United States. Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:2103–2109. doi: 10.1001/archinte.167.19.2103. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dahlin ME, Runeson B. Burnout and psychiatric morbidity among medical students entering clinical training: a three year prospective questionnaire and interview-based study. BMC Med Educ. 2007;7:6. doi: 10.1186/1472-6920-7-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baldassin S. O desgaste no internato – o nascimento do coping de um médico. In: Guimaraes KBS, editor. Saúde Mental do Médico e do Estudante de Medicina. 1. Vol. 6. São Paulo: Casa do Psicólogo; 2007. pp. 51–60.

MeSH terms