Quality of the relationships in the acadêmic environment and its impact on mental Health and on the quality of life of medical students: a cross-sectional study

• Grant number: 13/08795-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2013
• End date: July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Preventive Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Maria Fernanda Tourinho Peres
• Grantee: Fernanda Babler
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Studies about the health and quality of life of medical students are quite common in the national and international literature. Besides the aspects related to the structure of the medical courses and individual characteristics of the students, emphasis has been given to the quality of the relationships in the academic environment, a theme that has not been studied in Brazilian universities. In Brazil, although research on common mental disorders, depression, quality of life, and burn-out among medical students exist, there are no studies on the occurrence of bullying, abuse, and other forms of harassment during medical school. Likewise, there are no studies analyzing the effects of bullying or abuse on mental health and quality of life. This project has three main objectives: 1) to estimate the prevalence of mistreatment, abuse, and bullying among medical students, 2) to identify factors associated with the occurrence of maltreatment, abuse, and bullying. 3) investigate the association between maltreatment, abuse, and bullying with mental health and quality of life. A cross-sectional study with medical students from the first to the sixth year at a public university in the State of São Paulo will be carried on. All students (n = 1080) will be invited to participate in the study on a voluntary basis. It is expected a response rate of 70% and a final sample of 756 students. The whole procedure of data collection will be done through an online platform. The instruments will be filled by students, and data collection is scheduled for the months of August and September. The occurrence of maltreatment, abuse, and bullying will be assessed through a standardized instrument proposed by Rautio et al (2005). Depression, burn-out, and quality of life will be evaluated, respectively, through the following instruments: PHQ-9 - Module Questionnaire on patient health -9, Students Survey Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-SS), and Quality of Life Questionnaire (SF-36). The analysis will be performed with STATA 12.0. After descriptive and bivariate analysis associations will be investigated by calculating crude and adjusted prevalence ratios through Poisson regression, 95% confidence intervals will also be calculated. The outcome quality of life will be treated as a continuous variable. After the normality test, it will be used linear regression to examine the association between maltreatment and bullying. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

TOURINHO PERES, MARIA FERNANDA; BABLER, FERNANDA; LACERDA ARAKAKI, JULIANA NAOMY; DO VALE QUARESMA, IRENE YAMAMOTO; ALVES DE LIMA BARRETO, ABRAAO DEYVID; CORREIA DA SILVA, ANDREA TENORIO; ELUF-NETO, JOSE. Maus-tratos em um ambiente acadêmico e percepção sobre o curso entre estudantes de medicina em São Paulo, Brasil: um estudo transversal. São Paulo Medical Journal, v. 134, n. 2, p. 130-137, MAR-APR 2016. (13/11989-3, 13/08788-6, 13/08795-2)