engleski

Medical students' quality of life during the COVID- 19 pandemic

AIM: COVID-19 pandemic affected all aspects of life, including quality of life. Pre-pandemic studies show that university students report lower quality of life, especially medical students. The aim of this study was to estimate a quality of life of medical students University of Zagreb at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Participants in the research were medical students University of Zagreb from 1st to 6th year of study in the academic year 2019/20. The survey was conducted online, during the first lock down in Croatia, in May and June 2020, with the Quality of Life‐ Brief Version (WHOQOL‐BREF) questionnaire, validated 26-item instrument consisting of four domains: physical health, psychological health, social relations and environmental health. Data were analyzed by methods of descriptive and analytic statistics, with the significant level of P<0.05. RESULTS: Data analysis included 404 medical students (65.6% females), mean age 21.32±1.77. Most of them attended the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of study (29.5%, 20.5%, and 28.0% respectively). The highest mean score was found in environmental health domain (75.97±15.10), followed by physical health domain (69.18±17.79), social relations (66.46±21.15), and the psychological health (63.11±20.06). Significant negative correlation was found between female gender and physical (rho=-0.126 ; P=0.011) and psychological domain (rho=0.119 ; P=0.016), and positive correlation between the year of study and the physical health domain (rho=0.171 ; P<0.001). In OLS regression, better academic achievement was a predictor of better quality of life in all domains: physical (β= 0.384 ; P<0.001) ; psychological (β=0.328 ; P<0.001), social (β=0.174 ; P=0.001), and environmental health (β=0.221 ; P<0.001). Female gender was a predictor of poorer physical functioning (β=-0.102 ; P=0.027), and poorer psychological functioning (β=-0.113 ; P=0.016). CONCLUSION: The results showed that at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, and the first lock down medical students reported good quality of life in all four domain, even though it was the lowest in psychological domain. At higher risk of poorer quality of life were females and students with poorer academic achievement, which indicate the need of intervention among that part of medical student population.

quality of life ; medical students ; COVID-19

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