ArticleBMC medical education2026
Association between medical students' psychological distress and intention to practice.
Article in BMC medical education, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUnderstanding the prevalence of psychological distress among medical students and its association with intention to practice is crucial for enhancing medical student well-being and mitigating healthcare workforce shortages. This study assessed psychological distress among medical students during medical school in China and its association with their intention to practice, based on a large-scale and multicenter national survey.
methodsThis multicenter, cross-sectional study evaluated 199,257 medical students from 123 schools across 30 provinces in China in 2021. Psychological distress was assessed using the Chinese version of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. The primary outcome was: “I want to become a doctor after graduation.” Secondary outcomes included six items identifying students’ self-reported attitudes toward a range of statements related to their perceptions of the medical profession, like “Being a doctor is my ideal career choice.” Multivariate linear regression analyzed the relationship between psychological distress and the intention to practice.
resultsAmong the 199,257 participants, 30,813 (15.5%) medical students reported experiencing psychological distress. Compared with students without psychological distress, those reporting psychological distress had lower intention-to-practice (β, -0.20; 95% CI: -0.21 to -0.19; p<.001). Psychological distress was negatively associated with secondary outcomes; these associations were more pronounced among female students and students in the clinical education phase of undergraduate medical education.
conclusionsPsychological distress is negatively associated with intention to practice. Medical schools should implement appropriate measures to alleviate psychological distress among medical students, thereby enhancing their intention to practice.
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