Medical student barriers to mental healthcare.

Background: Medical education is associated with different mental disorders, a growing concern. Additionally, several barriers have been reported that hinder the use of mental health care services among physicians in training.

Objective: To identify the main barriers faced by medical students in seeking professional help and care the mental health.

Material and methods: Cross-sectional observational study of descriptive and analytical type, in medical students (n = 305), in whom the BACE (Barriers to Care Evaluation) instrument was applied and Pearson's correlation coefficient was applied.

Results: Based on mean subscale values of the instrument, the barriers from highest to lowest were: stigma (x- = 0.69, SD = 0.264), attitudinal (x- = 0.67, SD = 0.472) and structural (x- = 0.63, SD = 0.396). The characteristics most correlated with barriers included female gender, identification with gender and sexual diversity, having a mental health disorder, and exhibiting suicidal behavior (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: These findings are key in the creation of approaches to mitigate the impact these barriers have on the mental health care of medical students.