How do medical students visit psychologists in Hungary?

BACKGROUND: Mental health problems are more common among medical students than other student groups, and although medical students as future physicians will be responsible to give advice people for seeking healthcare, they frequently avoid seeking advice for their own mental health problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing medical students’ decisions to seek psychologist comparing international (IN) and Hungarian (HU) students. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire based cross-sectional study included 688 medical students (IN: 326; HU: 362) at the University of Szeged in 2021. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the correlations between the variables influencing students’ visits to psychologists. RESULTS: In the sample, 50.9% of students (IN: 49.7%; HU: 51.9%) had poor mental health, 17.2% of them (IN: 14.1%; HU: 19.9%) visited psychologists. Both IN and HU students were more likely to visit a psychologist when they reported poor mental health (IN: OR = 3.08, 95% CI 1.47-6.45; HU: OR = 2.45, 95% CI 1.31-4.60). IN female students had significantly higher odds of visiting a psychologist than male students (OR = 2.21, 95% CI 1.11-4.41), and HU students were more likely to visit a psychologist when they were in the clinical years compared to the preclinical years (OR = 1.74, 95% CI 1.00-3.01). CONCLUSIONS: Although healthcare-seeking behaviour is influenced by many factors, this study showed that the main reasons were the students’ mental health problems. Another point is that visiting psychologist was more typical during clinical years among Hungarian students what should encourage medical schools to improve students’ oriented mental health services. KEY MESSAGES: • Minimizing dangerous behaviour and providing medical students with proper mental health care. • Students have to get help during their final years to formal their career aims and reduce their stress level.