Experiences of medical students who interrupt their undergraduate studies

Medical students have a higher prevalence of mental health disorders compared to students from other programs (Hope & Henderson, 2014; Zeng et al., 2019) and to the general population (Rotenstein et al., 2016), also the dropout and interruption of studies in this career is predominantly associat...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Schilling-Norman, Mary Jane
Tipo de recurso: tesis de maestría
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:Chile
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.anid.cl:10533/253161
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10533/253161
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ciencias Sociales
Psicología
Otras Especialidades de la Psicología
Descripción
Sumario:Medical students have a higher prevalence of mental health disorders compared to students from other programs (Hope & Henderson, 2014; Zeng et al., 2019) and to the general population (Rotenstein et al., 2016), also the dropout and interruption of studies in this career is predominantly associated with mental health problems (Adhikari et al., 2017). The following is a particular case study of a university, in which an increase in the interruption of studies and mental health consultations in medical students has been observed in recent time, according to data provided by the institution. Based on the above, the following research question arises: What are the experiences of medical students who interrupt their university studies? A qualitative study with phenomenological design was carried out. In-depth interviews were conducted with 8 medical students. The analysis was carried out by means of the constant comparison method up to open coding level. The results obtained identified three categories: experiences prior to interruption of studies; experiences during the interruption of studies and experiences of reintegration to the university. The results obtained made it possible to identify the difficulties faced by the students prior to suspending their studies, which are linked to academic aspects, and the relationship between peers and teacher-student. It was also identified that the main reason for the interruption is associated with mental health problems. Finally, it was observed that the period away allowed students to acquire new perspectives and reaffirm their vocation.