Prevalence of Depression Symptoms Among Medical Students at a University in Imperatriz, MA

• Autor(a) principal: Alves, Isabela Almeida
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Simões, Roberta Carvalho Branco, Aragão, Monica Andréa Miranda
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Implantology and Health Sciences
• Texto Completo: https://bjihs.emnuvens.com.br/bjihs/article/view/387
• topic: Estudantes, Medicina, Depressão.; Students, Medicine, Depression.

Depression is defined as persistent sadness for at least two weeks. The responsibility and intense routine of medical school can contribute to the onset of this psychiatric disorder. This research aimed to identify the prevalence of depressive symptoms among medical students at a university in Imperatriz-MA. It is a cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. The Beck Depression Inventory was administered in person to medical students. The sample size comprised 294 students who were regularly enrolled in the course and randomly selected from the second to eleventh semester. It was observed that 73.3% of students had minimal symptoms, 11.14% had moderate symptoms, and 4.4% had severe symptoms. Women stood out compared to men in the severe score, especially those above 28 years old, with 15.38% in the severe score. In addition, 61.6% of students reported feeling highly pressured with the active methodology, PBL. In conclusion, although severe symptoms were present in a minority of students, they still draw attention due to the impact on their quality of life. Gender and the active methodology may be factors that influence the appearance of such symptomatology.