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
. 2023 Nov 7;23(1):843.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-023-04811-2.

Academic climate and psychopathological symptomatology in Spanish medical students

Montse Esquerda  1   2   3 , Joaquín Garcia-Estañ  4   5 , Albert Ruiz-Rosales  6   7 , J Miguel Garcia-Abajo  6   8 , Jesus Millan  4   9
Affiliations

Academic climate and psychopathological symptomatology in Spanish medical students

Montse Esquerda et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Introduction: Medical Education studies suggest that medical students experience depression, anxiety and psychopathological symptomatology in a proportion higher than in the rest of the population. In the present study, we aimed to conduct a nationwide analysis to describe student's perceptions of Educational Climate in Spanish medical schools, and its relationship with psychopathological symptomatology.

Methods: The study was carried out in 2022 in all 44 medical schools in Spain, and analyses the academic climate, and psychopathological symptomatology among medical students (n = 4374). To measure these variables, we used the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) for academic climate, and the SA-45 (Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire was used to assess psychopathological symptomatology.

Results: The mean DREEM global score was low, 95.8 (SD 22.6). Worse perception of the academic climate has been found in females (t -2.21, p 0.027), in students of the clinical academic years (t 16.9, p < 0.001), and public medical schools ( t 15.6, p < 0.001). The SA45 general index score was high (p90) in 25.6% of participants. In respect of gender, female students presented higher levels of SA45 general index score, depression, interpersonal sensitivity, somatization, anxiety, obsession-compulsion, and phobic anxiety symptoms. Higher DREEM global and subscale scores corresponded to a higher SA-45 global index score and higher SA-45 subscale scores.

Conclusions: Our study suggests a correlation between a poor perception of academic climate, increased depression, anxiety, and other psychopathological symptoms, with a pattern that varies between different faculties. The perception of academic climate varied between medical schools, as did the psychopathological symptoms scores. Our finding suggests the prevalence of these variables in medical students is, at least in part, attributable to factors directly related to the learning atmosphere.

Keywords: Academic climate; Learning Environment; Medical students; Mental health; Psychological Distress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mean DREEM score in medical schools
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
DREEM global score by academic year
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rotenstein LS, Ramos MA, Torre M, Segal JB, Peluso MJ, Guille C, et al. Prevalence of depression, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation among medical students: a systematic review and metaanalysis. JAMA. 2016;316(21):2214–2236. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.17324. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Shanafelt TD. Systematic review of depression, anxiety, and other indicators of psychological distress among U.S. and Canadian medical students. Acad Med. 2006;81(4):354–73. doi: 10.1097/00001888-200604000-00009. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sajid A, Ahmad T, Khalid T. Stress in medical undergraduates; its association with academic performance. Bangladesh J Med Sci. 2015;14(2):135–141. doi: 10.3329/bjms.v14i2.21815. - DOI
    1. Oro P, Esquerda M, Viñas J, Yuguero O, Pifarre J. Síntomas psicopatológicos, estrés y burnout en estudiantes de medicina. Educ Med. 2019;20:42–48.
    1. Capdevila-Gaudens P, García-Abajo JM, Flores-Funes D, García-Barbero M, García-Estañ J. Depression, anxiety, burnout and empathy among Spanish medical students. PLoS One. 2021;16(12):e0260359. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260359. - DOI - PMC - PubMed