The Role of Self-esteem and Field of Study in Predicting Mental Health of Undergraduate Health-professional Students

Background and Objectives Self-esteem is an important psychological factor affecting the health and quality of life of students. This study was an attempt to investigate the predictive role of self-esteem and field of study determinants of mental health status of undergraduate health-professional students in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Methods In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a represented sample of year 1-4 undergraduate students (N=184) were invited to participate in the study students (Nursing, Midwifery, Operating room and Emergency medical students). Psychological health was measured using a standard instrument GHQ-28. CSEI also was applied to measure the students’ self-esteem Results A bout 44% of the students had GHQ scores of 23 and above, indicating an increased likelihood of psychological distress. Depression had the lowest Mean±SD score (3.92±4.2), while social dysfunction had the highest Mean±SD score (8.06±3.9) among the subscales. There was a significantly negative correlation between GHQ score and students’ self-esteem (P= 0.000, r= -0.556). The students with higher self-esteem experienced lower level of psychological distress. According to the regression analysis, 30.9% of the variance in students’ mental health is predicted by self-esteem. Conclusion A high prevalence of emotional disturbance among health care practitioners is likely to compound the existing problems of health care provision and that counseling and other support services should be made available to them.