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Resilience and Psychological Distress in Psychology and Medical Students

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Abstract

Objective

The authors investigated levels of resilience and psychological distress in medical and psychology students, factors that may affect these levels, the relationship between resilience and psychological distress, and student opinion on causes of stress and possible interventions.

Methods

A voluntary anonymous online survey was distributed to University of Adelaide medical and psychology students.

Results

Medical and psychology students (n = 560; response rate = 24.7%) had similar mean resilience and psychological distress scores, and 47.9% of medical students and 55.1% of psychology students were psychologically distressed. Higher levels of resilience were associated with lower levels of distress (p < 0.001). Students supported resilience-based interventions, greater financial support, clearer learning objectives and more continuous assessment as potential means to reduce the effects of stress.

Conclusions

Higher levels of resilience were associated with lower levels of psychological distress. Further studies are required to determine the efficacy of resilience-based interventions in these groups.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. We would also like to thank Gabrielle Kelly and the Wellbeing and Resilience Centre of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute for their assistance with the project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Stephen Bacchi

  2. South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Julio Licinio

Authors
  1. Stephen Bacchi
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  2. Julio Licinio
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen Bacchi.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval was gained from the University of Adelaide Human Research Ethics Committee.

Disclosure

This project was funded by a research scholarship provided by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

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Bacchi, S., Licinio, J. Resilience and Psychological Distress in Psychology and Medical Students. Acad Psychiatry 41, 185–188 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-016-0488-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-016-0488-0

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