Mental Health Status Among Iranian Medical University Students: A Cross-sectional Study

Mental health status of university students is a critical issue due to its essential role in students’ academic performance. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the mental health status of firstyear students at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in 2020.

All first-year students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences entered this cross-sectional study through census sampling. Two Questionnaires, the Goldberg’s General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) as a screening instrument, and a researcher-made questionnaire were used to collect demographic information. After data collection, the chi-square test and logistic regression coefficient were applied to analyze the data at a significance level of 0.05.

The results showed that out of 875 students, 170 cases (19.4%) suffered from mental disorders, including depressed mood (93.5%) and anxiety attack (22%) as the most and least common disorders, respectively. Fitting the logistic regression model revealed that the highest educational degree (P<0.001, medical residency), admission quotas other than the free quota (P=0.03), high (P=0.04) and low (P=0.01) financial status, and fathers’ unemployment (P=0.04) increased the chance of mental health disorders.

Due to the high rate and negative consequences of mental health problems in university students, it is recommended that university counseling centers provide services for students with a focus on coping with more frequent mental disorders. Finally, it is suggested they have yearly follow-up surveys to recognize the effects of the university environment and different conducted programs on the students’ mental status.