Depression levels in medical students and their impact on academic performance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62059/0y4cyg43Keywords:
Depression, Academic performance, Medical studentsAbstract
Depression is a mood disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. This illness impacts quality of life and academic performance, especially among health sciences students. Studies have shown a link between depression and poor academic performance. The objective of this study was to measure depression levels in medical students at the Santa Marta campus and their relationship to academic performance using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the SOLO taxonomy. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale was administered to 273 students. Their semester GPA and SOLO category were then recorded. 71.7% of the students presented some degree of depression. The majority presented with mild depression. However, 18.8% showed signs of very severe depression, and 13.7% showed signs of severe depression. No differences were observed in the semester GPA between students with and without depression. No difference was observed in the semester GPA among the degrees of depression, but there was a trend toward a decrease in the proportion of depressed students as the semesters progressed. Upon reviewing the classification, ONLY severe cases of depression were concentrated at the multistructural and relational levels, while their proportion was lower at the expanded abstract level. In summary, low levels of depression have no effect on students' academic performance.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Ismael Correa Gómez, Bleidy Milena Mora Centeno, Cristian Javier Fong Reales (Autor/a)
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