Conceptualization of Depression among Medical Students and Its Differences during Medical Education

TL;DR

This study explores how medical students understand depression and how these views change as they progress through their education.

Contribution

The paper introduces a validated Spanish version of the Maudsley Attitudes Questionnaire and reveals shifts in conceptualization of depression across academic years.

Findings

Later-year students showed less support for psychodynamic and nihilist models of depression.

Students in later years reported greater confidence in understanding depression and its models.

Conceptualization of depression among students is complex and multidimensional.

Abstract

The definition of mental disorders has been traditionally a matter of discussion, and it has relevant implications in research and healthcare. Our aim was to explore the conceptualization medical students have of depression and to determine differences across academic years. The Maudsley Attitudes Questionnaire was adapted through a double translation, double back-translation and a preliminary validation, obtaining a Spanish edition. All students of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zaragoza and doctors who graduated from this University in 2020 were invited to answer the online questionnaire, and we received 222 answers (response rate: 15.2%). The results were compared by years and levels of education using an ANOVA. The social realist, behavioral, biological, cognitive and psychodynamic models were the most endorsed. The psychodynamic and nihilist models were less embraced by students in later educational years. These students also reported greater confidence in their understanding of depression and of its biological, cognitive and behavioral models. In conclusion, the conceptualization of depression among medical students is complex and multidimensional, and appears to be similar across different years of education. In later years, we found less support for the psychodynamic model, increased confidence in psychiatry and greater ease in handling the concepts of its leading models.

Figures