Hypochondriac fears and beliefs of medical students

Abstract

Hypochondria is a mental disorder characterized by a preoccupation with fears that a person may be ill or suffering from a serious illness, based on a misinterpretation of problems that cannot be eliminated by appropriate medical reassurance. A special type of hypochondriasis known as Medical Student Syndrome (MSS) refers to student's fears and beliefs that they are ill or may become ill with the illnesses they are learning while studying in pre-clinical and clinical subjects. A cross-sectional study was conducted during the winter semester of the 2019/2020 school year, with a sample of 90 students of the first, third, and sixth year of the Faculty of Medicine, sampled on a random basis. Subjects completed the Illness Attitude Scale (IAS). The aim of study was to investigate whether there is a difference in the incidence of hypochondrial tendencies and beliefs in the students of the Faculty of Medicine in relation to the year of study. The mean values on certain subscales were statistically significantly higher in students of third compared to students of first and sixth year of medicine. Students who have not renewed a year were found to have significantly higher average scores on the Disease Concerns and Pain Concerns subscale, as well as Disease phobia compared to those who renewed the year, while Hypochondrial beliefs were statistically significantly higher in subjects who renewed the year compared to students who had not renewed the year. The presented results support the hypothesis that health anxiety and all its components among the medical students at the preclinical level is most pronounced in the third year of study, and that it shows declining trend in the later stages of study.