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Prevalence of psychological distress among health sciences students: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

Psychological distress (PD) is considered as an indicator of students’ psychological well-being status in epidemiological studies. The study objectives were to systematically review articles to estimate the pooled prevalence of PD among Health Sciences undergraduate and to assess the effect of study characteristics on the pooled PD prevalence. The protocol was developed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Different information sources included PUBMED, EMBASE, OVID, EBESCO (ERIC, CINIHAL, and PsycInfo), ISI, and Scopus were searched to identify peer-reviewed English-language studies published before September 2020 reporting different PD types including stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among Health Sciences students. For each search term, related synonymous was used. In addition, study characteristics’ variables included academic years, regions, specialties, study years, gender, and PD types were specified. Prevalence estimates were pooled using random-effect meta-analysis and for studies characteristics effects the subgroup analysis and Meta regression were used with significance threshold of P < 0.05. Literature search identified 28 high-quality-cross-sectional studies on PD with a total sample size of 11,761 Health Sciences students of both genders, from all study years, Saudi regions (except Northern), and Health Sciences colleges. Overall pooled PD prevalence was 51.0% [(CI 95% (44.0–58.0)]. Pooled prevalence estimates were significantly affected by gender and PD types (P > 0.05). This systematic review and meta-analysis revealed a high prevalence of PD among Health Sciences undergraduate students. A significant association was found among gender, and PD types with the pooled prevalence.

Protocol registration King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC Registration Number: SP/493/R) and International Prospective Register of Systematic Review (PROSPERO Registration Number: CRD42020223514).

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Data availability

The dataset used/analyzed during the current study is available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Mr. Mohammed Al Sawadi—the Medical Library Technician College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for his valuable searching support.

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  1. Department of Medical Education, College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), 11481, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Afaf Saleh Almansoof, Amani Al-Muallem & Sajida Agha

  2. King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Afaf Saleh Almansoof, Amani Al-Muallem & Sajida Agha

  3. King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard – Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Afaf Saleh Almansoof

  4. Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

    Emad Masuadi

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ASM had contributed in conceptualization, methodology, data collection, analysis, writing the original draft, review. EM had contributed in methodology, analysis, visualization. AM had contributed in methodology, data collection and review. SA had contributed in methodology, supervision, writing and editing.

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Almansoof, A.S., Masuadi, E., Al-Muallem, A. et al. Prevalence of psychological distress among health sciences students: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Qual Quant (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-024-01829-6

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