Authors: Benali Abdeslam, Chichou Hajar, Elouadoudi Jalal, Laffinti Amine
Introduction: Up until now, research on mental health problems is still very rare in the world and almost nonexistent in Morocco.
Purpose: To assess the mental health of medical students using the 12-items General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), to examine the major stressors and the methods used to manage stress and to identify the factors contributing towards the students’ distress.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study, using the GHQ-12 questionnaire, with 380 students from the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Marrakech (3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th year), during the academic year 2017- 2018.Results: We recruited 358 students in a period of 2 weeks, achieving a response rate of 94.2%. There was a predominance of females (66.48%). The mean age was 22.20 ± 2.149 years. The average GHQ score was 6.37 ± 3.484, with a psychological distress rate of 66.76%. 70.11% of students use stress management methods. 64.53% of students admit they need psychological help. Psychological distress was strongly associated to the use of stress management methods and the need for psychiatric help. It was also significantly greater among females, and students under 25 years old.
Conclusion: With the prevalence of psychological distress being too high, measures should be provided to support medical students’ well-being.
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