Determining Association of Mental Wellbeing and Resilience among Pakistani Medical Students & the Perceived Effect on Their Future Behaviour as a Doctor

Abstract

Background: Mental health conditions are on the rise. In Pakistan, the mental health of university students is suboptimal especially among medical students. This study aims to identify the mental well-being and resilience among Pakistani medical students and to establish a relationship between resilience and mental well-being. Method: It was a cross-sectional study conducted in FUMC. Simple random sampling was done. Students from 2nd to 5th year MBBS were included in the study via lottery method. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire comprised of Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale and Brief Resilience Scale as well as 9 statements that assessed the perception of medical students. Results: The mean WEMWB score was 47.41 ± 8.87 and the mean resilience score was 3.09 ± 0.68. 24.8% of medical student fell into low mental well-being category and 40.20% of medical students fell into low resilience category. The association between mental well-being and resilience came out to be significant. 83.3% of students believed that mental well-being and resilience will have an effect on their future behaviour as doctors. 80.1% of students agreed on peer interventions to improve resilience and mental well-being of medical students. Conclusion: The overall mental well-being and resilience status of medical students was normal. However a significant percentage of medical students scored low on mental well-being and resilience scales. This study also defined a significant relationship between mental well-being and resilience. Interventions should be done to improve the future behaviour of medical students as doctors.