The experiences of students with mental health difficulties at medical school: a qualitative interview study

Abstract

Background High rates of burnout, anxiety, and depression in medical students are widespread, yet we have limited knowledge of the medical school experiences of students with mental health issues. The aim of the study is to understand the impact of mental health issues on students’ experience and training at medical school by adopting a qualitative approach.Methods Qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 students with mental health issues from eight UK medical schools of varying size and location. Students were purposefully sampled to gain variety in the type of mental health issue experienced and demographic characteristics. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed using NVivo software.Results Three themes were identified. 1) Culture of medicine: medical culture contributed to causing mental ill-health through study demands, competitiveness with peers, a ‘suck it up’ mentality where the expectation is that medical school is tough and medical students must push through, and stigma towards mental ill-health. 2) Help-seeking: students feared others discovering their difficulties and thus initially tried to cope alone, hiding symptoms until they were severe. There were multiple barriers to help-seeking including stigma and fear of damage to their career. 3) Impact on academic life: mental health issues had a detrimental impact on academic commitments, with students’ unable to keep up with their studies and some needing to take time out from medical school.Conclusion This study provides insight into how medical culture contributes both to the cause of mental health difficulties and the reluctance of medical students to seek help. Mental health issues had a considerable negative impact on medical students’ ability to learn and progress through their degree. Addressing the medical culture factors that contribute to the cause of mental health issues and the barriers to help-seeking must be a priority to ensure a healthier medical workforce.

Keywords

• Undergraduate medical education
• qualitative study
• mental health
• help-seeking
• medical culture