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
. 2012;7(11):e49714.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049714. Epub 2012 Nov 27.

Quality of life of medical students in China: a study using the WHOQOL-BREF

Yang Zhang  1 , Bo Qu, Shisi Lun, Dongbo Wang, Ying Guo, Jie Liu
Affiliations

Quality of life of medical students in China: a study using the WHOQOL-BREF

Yang Zhang et al. PLoS One. 2012.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life (QOL) of medical students during their medical education and explore the influencing factors of the QOL of students.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in June 2011. The study population was composed of 1686 medical students in years 1 to 5 at China Medical University. The Chinese version of WHOQOL-BREF instrument was used to assess the QOL of medical students. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were assessed by Cronbach's α coefficient and factor analysis respectively. The relationships between QOL and the factors including gender, academic year level, and specialty were examined using t-test or one-way ANOVA followed by Student-Newman-Keuls test. Statistic analysis was performed by SPSS 13.0.

Results: The overall Cronbach's α coefficient of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was 0.731. The confirmatory factor analysis provided an acceptable fit to a four-factor model in the medical student sample. The scores of different academic years were significantly different in the psychological health and social relations domains (p<0.05). Third year students had the lowest scores in psychological health and social relations domains. The scores of different specialties had significant differences in psychological health and social relations domains (p<0.05). Students from clinical medicine had the highest scores. Gender, interest in the area of study, confidence in career development, hometown location, and physical exercise were significantly associated with the quality of life of students in some domains (p<0.05).

Conclusions: The WHOQOL-BREF was reliable and valid in the assessment of the QOL of Chinese medical students. In order to cope with the influencing factors of the QOL, medical schools should carry out curriculum innovation and give the necessary support for medical students, especially for 3(rd) year students.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Scores of each domain for medical students.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Scores of each domain for clinical medicine.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Scores of each domain for preventive medicine.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Scores of each domain for nursing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Sun W, Wu H, Wang L (2011) Occupational stress and its related factors among university teachers in china. J Occup Health 53: 280–286. - PubMed
    1. Ministry of Health of China (2011) China Health Statistics Yearbook. Beijing: China Union Medical College Publishing. 423p.
    1. Liu KR, Hu GF, Zhang MY, Yan YX, Nie J (2009) Psychological anxiety evaluation and analysis of graduates at a medical university under employment pressure. Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao 29: 1071–1072. - PubMed
    1. Chung KF (2005) Changing the attitudes of Hong Kong medical students toward people with mental illness. J Nerv Ment Dis 193: 766–768. - PubMed
    1. WHOQOL Group (1994) Development of the WHOQOL: Rationale and current status. Int J Mental Health 23: 24–56.

Publication types