A cross-sectional study on homesickness among the first year medical students of a medical college in South India
Journal Title: Medpulse International Journal of Community Medicine - Year 2018, Vol 6, Issue 2
Abstract
Background: India’s education levels are improving and an increasing number of students are leaving the comforts of their home to pursue a higher education. The transition to college can be an exciting new experience, but intense homesickness can create a difficult or even unsustainable situation. Despite various efforts, counselling centres is still not a norm in most institutes in the country. Majority of the students in a medical college are from distant places. Thus they may be susceptible to homesickness. Objective: To study the prevalence of homesickness and factors influencing it among first year medical students was undertaken in a medical college situated in south India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among the first year MBBS students Between January- February 2017. A modified version of the Homesickness Questionnaire (HQ) initially developed by Archer et al was used to measure homesickness. 93 students residing in the hostel were included in the study. Results: In our study, age of the participants ranged from 17 to 20 years and there were 54 (58.1%) female students and 39 (41.9%) male students. Out of the 93 students 87 i.e. 93.55% were homesick. Among the students who are homesick, a majority of them, i.e. 58 students (66.66%) were moderately homesick. Higher age i.e. 19 and 20 years was significantly associated with homesickness (pvalue < 0.001). Students whose family is situated more than 500 km were more likely to be homesick (p-value < 0.001). There was a weak, but significant negative correlation between homesickness and academic performance. (r = 0.335 and p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: Prevalence of Homesickness is quite high among first year medical students and it has a negative impact on Academic performance. There is urgent need for remedial measures including setting up of student counselling centres in all medical colleges.
Authors and Affiliations
Sudhir B Nelson, Vishnu G Ashok, Gleffi Bensher, Getsy Benita
Keywords
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