title: Physical health, lifestyle beliefs and behaviors, and mental health of entering graduate health professional students: Evidence to support screening and early intervention.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little is known about the physical health, lifestyle beliefs and behaviors, and mental health among first-year health professional graduate students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe these attributes as well as to explore the relationships among them.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive correlational study was conducted on the baseline data from a wellness onboarding intervention study with 93 health sciences students from seven different colleges within a large public land grant university in the Midwest United States.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly 40% of the sample was overweight/obese, and 19% of students had elevated total cholesterol levels. Only 44% met the recommended 30 min of exercise 5 days per week. Forty-one percent reported elevated depressive symptoms and 28% had elevated anxiety. Four students reported suicidal ideation. Inverse relationships existed among depression/anxiety and healthy lifestyle beliefs/behaviors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Students entering health professional schools are at high risk for depression, anxiety, and unhealthy behaviors, which could be averted through screening and early evidence-based interventions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Assessing the physical health, lifestyle behaviors, and mental health of first-year health sciences professional students is important to identify health problems and modifiable at-risk behaviors so that early interventions can be implemented to improve outcomes.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Bernadette
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mazurek Melnyk
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Caitlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Slevin
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Militello
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hoying
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teall
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McGovern
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities / Q000458:organization & administration
keywords: Body mass index (BMI); college students; mental health; nutrition; physical activity; stress and coping