Psychological disorders and help seeking behaviour among Malaysian medical students in their clinical years.

Aida J, and Hizlinda T, and Siti Fatimah S, and Mohd Muhaimin A, and Chai, SY and Sahrina W, and Teo, BH (2014) Psychological disorders and help seeking behaviour among Malaysian medical students in their clinical years. Medicine & Health, 9 (2). pp. 144-123. ISSN 1823-2140

[img]
Preview
PDF
294kB

Official URL: http://www.medicineandhealthukm.com

Abstract

The present study is to determine the level of depression, anxiety and stress among Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) clinical year medical students and their help seeking behaviour in relation to their psychological aspect. A cross-sectional study was conducted in UKM Medical Centre for three months duration. The study population was the third, fourth and fifth year medical students via proportional sampling. They were given questionnaires consisting of socio-demographic items, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 – Bahasa Malaysia version BM-DASS21 and questions regarding help-seeking behaviors. Psychometric assessment (BM-DASS21) estimated the level of depression, anxiety and stress among medical students. Help-seeking behavior questions assessed the use of medical facilities and other help-seeking sources. Regarding questions on the barriers towards seeking help from the primary health-care, three parts were evaluated: structural barriers, barriers towards perceptions on mental-health disorder and barriers towards use of primary health-care services. There were 380 medical students who were involved in this research. It was found that some students experienced depression (1.3%), anxiety (2.4%) and stress (2.4%). Majority of them preferred to seek help from friends (283; 74.5%) followed by parents (275; 72.4%). There was a significant association between students who were anxious and help seeking behaviour from formal sources: counselor (p=0.001) and religious personnel (p=0.03). Hence, it is essential to increase their awareness on psychological disorders and more efficient screening programme should be used to recognize medical students with possible emotional disorders.

Item Type:Article
Keywords:depression; anxiety; stress; help-seeking behaviour; medical studentstress.
Journal:Medicine & Health
ID Code:8281
Deposited By: Mr. Muhammad Wafi -
Deposited On:20 Feb 2015 14:34
Last Modified:14 Dec 2016 06:46

Repository Staff Only: item control page