Prevalence of psychological symptoms and their correlates among physiotherapy clinical students: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Mental health in medical students is well researched, with physiotherapy students receiving less attention even though psychiatry is a recognised specialty within physiotherapy. OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety and stress among physiotherapy clinical students. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed on 402 physiotherapy clinical students aged 17–40 years using a convenience sampling method. The data were collected using the self-administered 42-items Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale (DASS) and the data were analysed using a Chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among these students was 79.9%, 85.6% and 81.6%, respectively. The results indicate that financial status and social life influenced depression by 20.6% (odds ratio [OR] [95%] = 1.206 [1.110, 1.311]) and 36% (OR [95%] = 1.360 [1.050, 1.764]), respectively. Fear of repeating a class influenced anxiety by eight times (OR [95%] = 8.330 [6.643, 10.422]). Fear of repeating a class, financial status and academic performance influenced stress by eight times (OR [95%] = 8.360 [6.677, 10.470]), 17.5% (OR [95%] = 1.175 [1.083, 1.275]) and 18.1% (OR [95%] = 1.181 [1.083, 1.276]), respectively. CONCLUSION: Our study concluded that there was a high prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among physiotherapy clinical students. These outcomes suggest that more attention needs to be given to improving physiotherapy clinical students’ mental health, which will ultimately improve learning outcomes. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The long-term effects of psychological distress could potentially impact students’ academic performance. It may also have long-lasting effects after graduation. Therefore, students who are at risk of developing psychological symptoms are needed to be thoroughly examined and then receive early required interventions.