Estrés académico y su asociación con salud mental en estudiantes de medicina de la universidad de cuenca, 2018

Abstract

Background: medical students are exposed to greater stress situations compared to the rest of the population, which is why the evaluation of academic stress and mental health is important. Objective: to determine the prevalence of academic stress and its relationship with mental health in students of the Medicine of the University of Cuenca during the 2017 period. Methodology: analytical prevalence study, cross-sectional in a sample of 269 students of the Medicine Career of the University of Cuenca, the information was collected through the use of a form, SISCO questionnaire to assess stress and SRQ questionnaire for alterations in mental health, after the information was collected, data were analyzed in the SPSS 15 program, Chi square and p-value were used for statistical significance (p <0.05). Results: the mean age was 21.29 years ± 2.43 years, the prevalence of academic stress was 82.5% and alterations in the mental health of the students: psychological distress 50.9%; problematic alcohol consumption 26.8%, psychotic symptoms 26.8% and tobacco consumption 22.3%. Statistically no relationship was found between academic stress and psychological distress (p = 0.76), problematic alcohol consumption (p = 0.06), psychotic symptoms (p = 0.19) and tobacco consumption (p = 0.17). Conclusions: The prevalence of academic stress is high as well as the alterations in the mental health of the students.