Mental health in medical, dentistry and veterinary students: cross-sectional online survey

Abstract

BACKGROUND The mental health of university students, especially medical students, is of growing concern in the UK. AIM To estimate the prevalence of mental disorder in health sciences students and investigate help-seeking behaviour. METHOD An online survey from one English university (n = 1139; 53% response rate) collected data on depression (using the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire), anxiety (seven-item Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment), alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), self-harm and well-being, as well as help seeking. RESULTS A quarter of the students reported symptoms of moderate/severe depression and 27% reported symptoms of moderate/severe anxiety. Only 21% of students with symptoms of severe depression had sought professional help; the main reason for not seeking help was fear of documentation on academic records. CONCLUSIONS The study highlights the extent of mental health problems faced by health science students. Barriers to help seeking due to concerns about fitness-to-practise procedures urgently need to be addressed to ensure that this population of students can access help in a timely fashion. DECLARATION OF INTEREST None.