Perspectives on mental health services for medical students at a Ugandan medical school.

Autor: Kihumuro RB; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Kaggwa MM; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda. kmarkmohan@gmail.com.; African Centre for Suicide Prevention and Research, Mbarara, Uganda. kmarkmohan@gmail.com.; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada. kmarkmohan@gmail.com., Nakandi RM; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Kintu TM; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Muwanga DR; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Muganzi DJ; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Atwau P; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Ayesiga I; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Acai A; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada., Najjuka SM; College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda., Najjuma JN; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Frazier-Koussai S; Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center at Prairie View, A and M University (PVAMU), Texas, USA., Ashaba S; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Harms S; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC medical education [BMC Med Educ] 2022 Oct 25; Vol. 22 (1), pp. 734. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Oct 25.
DOI: 10.1186/s12909-022-03815-8
Abstrakt: Background: University-based mental health services for medical students remain a challenge, particularly in low-income countries, due to poor service availability. Prior studies have explored the availability of mental health services in high-income countries but little is known about mental health services in countries in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Uganda. Medical students are at a higher risk of developing mental health challenges during their course of study as compared with other students. Thus, there is a need for well-structured mental health services for this group of students. The aim of this study was to explore perspectives on mental health services for medical students at a public University in Uganda.
Methods: This was a qualitative study where key informant interviews were conducted among purposively selected university administrators (n = 4), student leaders (n = 4), and mental health employees of the university (n = 3), three groups responsible for the mental well-being of medical students at a public university in Uganda. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed to identify relevant themes.
Results: The working experience of university administrators and mental health providers was between eight months to 20 years, while student leaders had studied at the university for over four years. We identified five broad themes: (1) Burden of medical school: A curriculum of trauma, (2) Negative coping mechanisms and the problem of blame, (3) The promise of services: Mixed Messages, (4) A broken mental health system for students, and (5) Barriers to mental health services.
Conclusion: Distinguishing between psychological distress that is anticipated because of the subject matter in learning medicine and identifying those students that are suffering from untreated psychiatric disorders is an important conceptual task for universities. This can be done through offering education about mental health and well-being for administrators, giving arm's length support for students, and a proactive, not reactive, approach to mental health. There is also a need to redesign the medical curriculum to change the medical education culture through pedagogical considerations of how trauma informs the learning and the mental health of students.
(© 2022. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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