Graduate-entry medical students: older and wiser but not less distressed.
OBJECTIVE
Australia has a growing number of graduate-entry medical courses. It is known that undergraduate medical students have high levels of psychological distress; however, little is known about graduate-entry medical students. We examined whether graduate-entry medical students had higher levels of psychological distress than the same-age general population.


METHODS
Psychological distress was assessed in 122 graduate-entry medical students in an Australian graduate-entry medical school using the 21-item Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale. Mean scores and the proportion of students with scores in the highly distressed range were compared with non-clinical population norms. Scores were also compared across demographic characteristics.


RESULTS
Medical students reported higher mean depression, anxiety and stress scores than the general population and were more likely to score in the moderate to extremely high range for anxiety (45% vs. 13%; p<0.001) and stress (17% vs. 13%; p=0.003). Anxiety and stress were higher in students aged ≥30 years than in younger students.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite their maturity, graduate-entry students experienced high psychological distress. Anxiety and stress were higher, not lower, with increasing age. Our results suggest that graduate-entry medical students warrant the same level of concern as their school-leaving counterparts. Further interventions to support these students during medical school are warranted.
2012 Graduate, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Wollongong Wollongong, NSW, and; General Practitioner Registrar, Culburra Beach General Practice, Culburra Beach, NSW, Australia dc765@uowmail.edu.au.
Dion
D
Casey
Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
Susan
S
Thomas
Research Fellow, Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, LaTrobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Darren R
DR
Hocking
Adjunct Research Fellow, Centre for Health Services Research, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
Anna
A
Kemp-Casey
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
Australia; DASS-21; graduate-entry; medical students; psychological distress