Wellbeing and burnout among medical students in Wales

Int Rev Psychiatry. 2019 Nov-Dec;31(7-8):613-618. doi: 10.1080/09540261.2019.1678251. Epub 2019 Oct 22.

Abstract

Medical students' wellbeing and mental health requires nurturing in order for them to build success in their careers, help people while doing so, and to be happy. To better characterise the current state of wellbeing in medical schools in Wales, medical students from Cardiff and Swansea Universities were asked to complete an online survey as part of a larger international survey regarding their mental health and wellbeing. 266 students responded out of approximately 2150, a rate of 12%. 44 students received a mental health diagnosis whilst at medical school (predominantly depression or anxiety), 65 scored threshold for concerning alcohol consumption using the CAGE questionnaire, and 224 and 230 students reached threshold for the disengagement and exhaustion components of the Oldenburg Burnout Scale, respectively.

Keywords: Medical students; Wales; burnout; mental health; wellbeing.

MeSH terms

  • Alcoholism / psychology
  • Anxiety / diagnosis*
  • Anxiety / psychology
  • Burnout, Professional / psychology*
  • Depression / diagnosis*
  • Depression / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Health*
  • Schools, Medical
  • Students, Medical / psychology
  • Students, Medical / statistics & numerical data*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Wales