Psychological Distress and Sleep Quality Among Sri Lankan Medical Students During an Economic Crisis

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2024 Jun 25

PMID 38917140

Authors

Guwani Liyanage

D P R W Rajapakshe

D R Wijayaratna

J A I P Jayakody

K A M C Gunaratne

A M A D K Alagiyawanna

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: This study examined the evidence of the prevalence of psychological distress and poor sleep among medical students and its associations during an economic crisis.

Design: This was a cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire. It included the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).

Setting And Participants: This study included medical undergraduates from a large metropolitan university in Sri Lanka.

Primary And Secondary Outcome Measures: We assessed the prevalence of psychological distress, sleep quality, and factors associated with psychological distress. To evaluate the associations, we used logistic regression.

Results: The majority (69.2%) had some form of distress (depression, anxiety or stress), while 23% had distress in all three. Anxiety was the most prevalent (50.7%). Poor sleep quality was reported in 41%. The highest contribution to global PSQI was from sleep latency, duration, and daytime dysfunction subscales. In bivariate analysis, sleep quality was directly related to depression (t245.65 = -6.75, p<0.001)., anxiety (t313.45 = -6.45, p <0.001), and stress (t94.22 = -5.14, p <0.001). In multinomial logistic regression models, sleep quality was independently associated with depression, anxiety and stress. In addition, frequent contact with friends was inversely associated with depression and anxiety. Also, social media use was inversely linked to depression, anxiety and stress. Clinical-year students had lower depression and anxiety than non-clinical students. Engaging in mindfulness activities was inversely associated with depression. However, models explained only a moderate amount of variance (Nagelkerke R-squared values were 0.21, 0.18, and 0.13 for depression, anxiety and stress, respectively).

Conclusions: Poor sleep quality and psychological distress are high among the undergraduates. The findings emphasize the importance of addressing sleep quality and psychological wellbeing in medical undergraduates. Further research with larger and more diverse samples is needed for a more comprehensive understanding of the factors associated with psychological distress among undergraduates.

Citing Articles

Determining the influence of a sleep improvement intervention on medical students' sleep and fatigue: protocol of the PROMESS-Sleep clinical trial.

Ruet A, Ndiki Mayi E, Metais A, Valero B, Henry A, Duclos A BMC Med Educ. 2025; 25(1):267.

PMID: 39972313 PMC: 11841311. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-024-06422-x.

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