“Medical student syndrome”: a real disease or just a myth?—a cross-sectional study at Menoufia University, Egypt
Abstract Background A widely held belief is that “Medical student syndrome” is frequently experienced by young medical students, that is, they experience the symptoms of the diseases they are studying or fear of having such illness. A hypothesis is that because medical students constantly learn abou...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Middle East Current Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00312-6 |
| _version_ | 1797823045465800704 |
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| author | Huda A. Sherif Khaled Tawfeeq Zahraa Mohamed Lobna Abdelhakeem Sara H. Tahoon Mahasen Mosa Karima Samy Karema Hamdy Lamiaa Ellakwa Salma Elnoamany |
| author_facet | Huda A. Sherif Khaled Tawfeeq Zahraa Mohamed Lobna Abdelhakeem Sara H. Tahoon Mahasen Mosa Karima Samy Karema Hamdy Lamiaa Ellakwa Salma Elnoamany |
| author_sort | Huda A. Sherif |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background A widely held belief is that “Medical student syndrome” is frequently experienced by young medical students, that is, they experience the symptoms of the diseases they are studying or fear of having such illness. A hypothesis is that because medical students constantly learn about life-threatening conditions and diseases, they experience persistent fear and stress regarding having a severe medical condition, an anxiety-related illness called nosophobia. Results Although medical students scored an average of 14.14 on a scale measuring potential nosophobia a, the difference between their scores and those of non-medical students, who scored an average of 0.11, is significantly higher (p 0.001). According to the presented analysis, non-medical and medical students exhibit distinct levels of nosophobia. The analysis of responses to hypochondriacal behaviors revealed that students from non-medical faculties scored an average of 1.43 points. By contrast, the average score for medical students was 7.87, which is significantly higher than that of the non-medical students (p 0.001). Conclusions Medical students are at higher risk for health anxiety and hypochondrial attitudes than non-medical students are. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T10:18:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e5800fa7f9d84d2d86369bed5832c5b9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2090-5416 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T10:18:16Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Middle East Current Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-e5800fa7f9d84d2d86369bed5832c5b92023-05-21T11:06:58ZengSpringerOpenMiddle East Current Psychiatry2090-54162023-05-013011710.1186/s43045-023-00312-6“Medical student syndrome”: a real disease or just a myth?—a cross-sectional study at Menoufia University, EgyptHuda A. Sherif0Khaled Tawfeeq1Zahraa Mohamed2Lobna Abdelhakeem3Sara H. Tahoon4Mahasen Mosa5Karima Samy6Karema Hamdy7Lamiaa Ellakwa8Salma Elnoamany9Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Menoufia UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Menoufia UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Menoufia UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Menoufia UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Menoufia UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Menoufia UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Menoufia UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Menoufia UniversityFaculty of Medicine, Menoufia UniversityAbstract Background A widely held belief is that “Medical student syndrome” is frequently experienced by young medical students, that is, they experience the symptoms of the diseases they are studying or fear of having such illness. A hypothesis is that because medical students constantly learn about life-threatening conditions and diseases, they experience persistent fear and stress regarding having a severe medical condition, an anxiety-related illness called nosophobia. Results Although medical students scored an average of 14.14 on a scale measuring potential nosophobia a, the difference between their scores and those of non-medical students, who scored an average of 0.11, is significantly higher (p 0.001). According to the presented analysis, non-medical and medical students exhibit distinct levels of nosophobia. The analysis of responses to hypochondriacal behaviors revealed that students from non-medical faculties scored an average of 1.43 points. By contrast, the average score for medical students was 7.87, which is significantly higher than that of the non-medical students (p 0.001). Conclusions Medical students are at higher risk for health anxiety and hypochondrial attitudes than non-medical students are.https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00312-6HypochondriaNosophobiaMedical students |
| spellingShingle | Huda A. Sherif Khaled Tawfeeq Zahraa Mohamed Lobna Abdelhakeem Sara H. Tahoon Mahasen Mosa Karima Samy Karema Hamdy Lamiaa Ellakwa Salma Elnoamany “Medical student syndrome”: a real disease or just a myth?—a cross-sectional study at Menoufia University, Egypt Middle East Current Psychiatry Hypochondria Nosophobia Medical students |
| title | “Medical student syndrome”: a real disease or just a myth?—a cross-sectional study at Menoufia University, Egypt |
| title_full | “Medical student syndrome”: a real disease or just a myth?—a cross-sectional study at Menoufia University, Egypt |
| title_fullStr | “Medical student syndrome”: a real disease or just a myth?—a cross-sectional study at Menoufia University, Egypt |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Medical student syndrome”: a real disease or just a myth?—a cross-sectional study at Menoufia University, Egypt |
| title_short | “Medical student syndrome”: a real disease or just a myth?—a cross-sectional study at Menoufia University, Egypt |
| title_sort | medical student syndrome a real disease or just a myth a cross sectional study at menoufia university egypt |
| topic | Hypochondria Nosophobia Medical students |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s43045-023-00312-6 |
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