Psychological distress and its correlates among dental students: a survey of 17 Colombian dental schools

Public Deposited
Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Request Version for Screen Reader
Creator
  • Divaris, Kimon
    • Affiliation: School of Dentistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry
  • Mafla, Ana
    • Other Affiliation: Grupo de Investigaciones en Odontología (GIOD), Facultad de Odontología, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia–Pasto, Calle 18 No. 47-150, Pasto, Nariño, Colombia
  • Villa-Torres, Laura
    • Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Health Behavior
  • Sánchez-Molina, Marisol
    • Other Affiliation: Facultad de Odontología, Universidad Metropolitana, Calle 76 No. 42-78, Barranquilla, Atlántico, Colombia
  • Gallego-Gómez, Clara
    • Other Affiliation: Facultad de Odontología, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia - Medellín, Carrera 47 No. 37 Sur 18, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
  • Vélez-Jaramillo, Luis
    • Other Affiliation: Facultad de Odontología, Universidad CES, Calle 10 A No. 22-04, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
  • Tamayo-Cardona, Julián
    • Other Affiliation: Institución Universitaria Colegios de Colombia sede Cali, Transversal 25 No. 18-21, Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
  • Pérez-Cepeda, David
    • Other Affiliation: Facultad de Odontología, Fundación Universitaria San Martín, Carrera 15ª No. 60-80, Bogotá, Colombia
  • Vergara-Mercado, Martha
    • Other Affiliation: Facultad de Odontología, Universidad del Sinú – Montería, Campus Elías Bechara Zainúm, Calle 38 Carrera 1 W Barrio Juan XXIII. Bloque 5 Piso 2 PBX, Montería, Córdoba, Colombia
  • Simancas-Pallares, Miguel
    • Other Affiliation: Facultad de Odontología, Universidad del Sinú - Cartagena, Av. Pedro de Heredia, Sector Amberes, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
  • Polychronopoulou, Argy
    • Other Affiliation: Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, School of Dentistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Goudi 11527, Greece
Abstract
  • Abstract Background Links between the demanding nature of studies in the health sciences, students’ personality traits and psychological distress have been well-established. While considerable amount of work has been done in medicine, evidence from the dental education arena is sparse and data from Latin America are lacking. The authors conducted a large-scale investigation of psychological distress among dental students in Colombia and sought to determine its curriculum and student-level correlates. Methods The Spanish version of the Derogatis’ Symptoms Checklist Revised (SCL-90-R) was administered to all students officially registered and attending classes or clinics in 17 dental schools in 4 geographic districts of Colombia between January and April 2012. Additional information was collected on participants’ socio-demographic information and first career choice, as well as school’s characteristics such as class size. The Global Severity Index (GSI) score, a measure of overall psychological distress, served as the primary analytical endpoint. Analyses relied on multilevel mixed-effects linear and log-binomial regression, accounting for study design and sample characteristics. Results A total of 5700 dental students completed the survey, a response rate of 67%. Pronounced gradients were noted in the association between socio-economic status and psychological distress, with students in higher strata reporting fewer problems. After adjustment for all important covariates, there was an evident pattern of increasing psychological distress corresponding to the transition from the didactic, to the preclinical and clinical phases of training, with few differences between male and female students. Independent of other factors, reliance on own funds for education and having dentistry as the first career choice were associated with lower psychological distress. Conclusions Levels of psychological distress correlated with students’ socio-economic and study-level characteristics. Above and beyond the influence of person-level factors, variations in levels of distress paralleled specific transitional stages of the 5-year dental curriculum, providing opportunities for targeted interventions.
Date of publication
DOI
Identifier
Resource type
  • Article
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Rights holder
  • Kimon Divaris et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
License
Journal title
  • BMC Medical Education
Journal volume
  • 13
Journal issue
  • 1
Page start
  • 91
Language
  • English
Is the article or chapter peer-reviewed?
  • Yes
ISSN
  • 1472-6920
Bibliographic citation
  • BMC Medical Education. 2013 Jun 26;13(1):91
Publisher
  • BioMed Central Ltd
Access right
  • Open Access
Date uploaded
  • July 15, 2016

Relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details 12909_2012_article_765.pdf 2019-05-06 Public Download
file details 12909_2012_765_moesm1_esm.doc 2019-05-06 Public Download
file details 12909_2012_765_moesm4_esm.pdf 2019-05-06 Public Download
file details 12909_2012_765_moesm3_esm.pdf 2019-05-06 Public Download
file details 12909_2012_765_moesm2_esm.pdf 2019-05-06 Public Download