Abstract :
Introduction: Medical students are exposed to highly stressful environments. These young individuals are expected to put in long durations of study, attend lectures, visit the hospital to see patients and write exams. The quality of life of a medical student directly impacts his/her outlook towards the medical field and thus shapes the kind of doctor that he/she becomes.
Methods: Cross sectional study was conducted with a structured questionnaire- 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Designated questions were combined to arrive at eight domains of health related quality of life, namely- Physical functioning, Role limitations due to physical health, Role limitations due to emotional problems, Energy/fatigue, Emotional well-being, social functioning, Pain and General health. Again these eight domains were categorised into two components: Physical component and Mental Component.
Results: A total of 251 students were studied. Of these 61.1% were boys. The mean (SD) age of the study population was 19.83 (0.97) years. The total mean SF-36 score among the medical students was found to be 67.45 (15.2). The mean scores for physical component was found to be 70.27 (16.61) and the mental component was found to be 64.59 (18.07).
Conclusion: The quality of life measured by SF-36 showed that the medical students have reported favourably for all domains assessing the quality of life. There is no significant difference in the total SF-36 score according to the year/semester they are studying.
Keyword :
Physical, Mental, Health Status, Emotional, Under Graduate