An Exploratory Study of Quality of Life and Its Relationship with Academic Performance among Students in Medical and other Health Professions
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Medical Sciences
Abstract
Quality of life (QOL) is a broader concept which represents experiences, states, appraisals,
behaviors, capacities and emotional reactions to circumstances. The study aimed to evaluate the
di erences in various domains of QOL among the students of five schools (medicine, dentistry,
veterinary medicine, pharmacy and nursing) and an optometry unit in the Faculty of Medical Sciences,
Trinidad and Tobago. Further, the study evaluated the factors (sociodemographic variables and
academic performance) predictive of physical, psychological, social and environment domains of
quality of life. The research tool consisted of a validated questionnaire which had two sections;
(1) sociodemographics inclusive of students’ cumulative grade point average and (2) the shorter
version of WHO quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF). The data were transformed into a linear scale
and exported into the IBM SPSS version 24 where t-tests, one-way ANOVA and stepwise regression
were performed. Of the total 535 participants, most 383 (71.6%) were females. While comparing the
di erences in the domains of QOL that existed based on the schools (professions) they were enrolled,
significant di erences were recorded for physical (p < 0.05), psychological (p < 0.05) social (p < 0.05)
and environmental domains (p < 0.05). Though the domains of physical health, psychological health
and environment showed a significant association with the academic performance of students, the
social domain had no such relationship. The overall quality of life has a positive connection with the
academic performance of students in medical and health professions. Therefore, universities and all
stakeholders involved in health professions need to play a critical role to ensure the students in health
professions maintain a high QOL. At the same time, there is a great need for extra attention for
students who showed poor academic performance in the previous semester to bring them on track.
Description
Table of Contents
Keywords
Quality of life (QOL), Academic performance, Grade point average (GPA), Medical sciences, Dentistry, Veterinary medicine, Optometry, Pharmacy, Ethnicity, World Health Organization (WHO)
Citation
Chattu VK, Sahu PK, Seedial N, et al. An Exploratory Study of Quality of Life and Its Relationship with Academic Performance among Students in Medical and other Health Professions. Med Sci (Basel). 2020;8(2):23. Published 2020 Jun 9. doi:10.3390/medsci8020023