The DOI matches its Crossref record; 14 of the 14 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Depressed Medical Studentsʼ Use of Mental Health Services and Barriers to Use
Abstract
PURPOSE: Depression is an underrecognized yet common and treatable disorder among medical students. Little is known about the rate of mental health service use by depressed medical students. This study sought to determine the level of mental health service use by depressed medical students and their reported barriers to use. METHOD: In the spring of 1994, a one-time survey of 194 first- and second-year medical students was conducted in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Outcome measures were self-reported use of counseling services, barriers to use, suicidal ideation, and depressive symptoms as measured by the 13-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). RESULTS: Twenty-four percent (n = 46) of the medical students were depressed by BDI criteria. Of the depressed students, only 22% (n = 10) were using mental health counseling services. The most frequently cited barriers to using these services were lack of time (48%), lack of confidentiality (37%), stigma associated with using mental health services (30%), cost (28%), fear of documentation on academic record (24%), and fear of unwanted intervention (26%). CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that depression among medical students may be undertreated. Medical schools can assist depressed students by addressing issues such as the stigma of using mental health services, confidentiality, and documentation. Early treatment of impaired future caregivers may have far-reaching implications for the individual students, their colleagues, and their future patients.
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Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“only 22% of medical students who are depressed actually access mental health services [4].”
In the citing paper
“medical students experience significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression, and stress compared to their age-matched peers in the general population [4].”
In the citing paper
“Common barriers that prevent students from using these services include time constraints, limited accessibility, concerns about confidentiality, stigma, fear of unwanted interventions, and cost [4,25].”
In the citing paper
“Self-help online therapy programs can address many of these problems [7, 8].”
In the citing paper
“Many students do not seek treatment partly due to the lack of time, privacy concerns, stigma [16], lack of emotional openness [17], and financial constraints [18-21].”
From Efficacy of the Mindfulness Meditation Mobile App “Calm” to Reduce Stress Among College Students: Randomized Controlled Trial (2019) · cites this paper as [18]
Citations
Cites
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Screening for Depression in Primary Care Clinics: The CES-D and the BDI
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A longitudinal study of studentsʼ depression at one medical school
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Stress, coping, and well-being among third-year medical students
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“year of school.(2) Although counseling is known to be an effective treatment for depression, depressed medical students have low rates of using mental health counseling services and may not have access to such services at all.”
BackgroundDepression among medical students
Zoccolillo, M., Murphy, G. E., & Wetzel, R. D. (1986) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/0165-0327(86)90065-0 · Cited by 173
Suicidal Ideation and Behaviours among University Students in Australia
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A biopsychosocial model of medical student distress
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CLINICAL PREDICTION OF PHYSICIAN SUICIDE BASED ON MEDICAL STUDENT DATA
EPSTEIN, L. C., Thomas, C. B., Shaffer, J. W., & Perlin, S. (1973) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/00005053-197301000-00002 · Cited by 44
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Availability of personal counseling in medical schools
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Dyrbye, L. N., Thomas, M. R., & Shanafelt, T. D. (2006) · Academic Medicine · doi:10.1097/00001888-200604000-00009 · Cited by 2,909
Rotenstein, L. S., Ramos, M. A., Torre, M., Segal, J. B., Peluso, M. J., Guille, C., Sen, S., & Mata, D. A. (2016) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2016.17324 · Cited by 2,479
Mental health problems and help-seeking behavior among college students
Hunt, J., & Eisenberg, D. (2010) · Journal of Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.08.008 · Cited by 1,949
Burnout and Suicidal Ideation among U.S. Medical Students
Dyrbye, L. N., Thomas, M. R., Massie, F. S., Power, D. V., Eacker, A., Harper, W., Durning, S., Moutier, C., Szydlo, D. W., Novotny, P. J., et al. (2008) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/0003-4819-149-5-200809020-00008 · Cited by 1,532
Help-Seeking and Access to Mental Health Care in a University Student Population
Eisenberg, D., Golberstein, E., & Gollust, S. E. (2007) · Medical Care · doi:10.1097/mlr.0b013e31803bb4c1 · Cited by 1,131
Metadata
- Authors
- Givens, J. L., & Tjia, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Tjia, Jennifer
- ORCID
- Tjia, Jennifer
- Venue
- Academic Medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2002-09
- Volume
- 77
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 918-921
- ISSN
- 1040-2446 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2045639353
- Cited by
- 583
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 45 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 32 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 11.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Academic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Education › Innovations in Medical Education
- Keywords
- depression, medical students, mental health service utilization, barriers to care, help-seeking, stigma, confidentiality, suicidal ideation, Beck Depression Inventory, counseling services, undertreatment
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Confidentiality, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depressive Disorder, Female, Health Services Accessibility, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Mental Health Services, Severity of Illness Index, Students, Medical, Time Factors
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