RESEARCH ARTICLE


Illness Anxiety Disorder and Distress among Female Medical and Nursing Students



Sana Hawamdeh1
iD
, Fatchima L. Moussa2
iD
, Sami Al-Rawashdeh3, *
iD
, Sajidah Al Hawamdih4
iD
, Mahaman. L. Moussa5
iD

1 Philadelphia, PA19104, USA
2 Academy of Vocal Arts, Medical Surgical Department, College of Nursing, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
3 Department of Community and Mental Health Nursing- Faculty of Nursing, The Hashemite University, P.O. Box 330127, Zarqa 13133, Jordan
4 Applied Medical School- Luminus Technical University College (LTUC), Airport Road, Near Marj Al Hamam Bridge, Amman, Jordan
5 College of Nursing, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia


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Creative Commons License
© 2023 Hawamdeh et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Community and Mental Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, The Hashemite University, P.O. Box 330127, Zarqa 13133, Jordan; E-mail: samiy@hu.edu.jo


Abstract

Objective:

This study aims to compare the prevalence of illness anxiety disorder (IAD) and distress between medical and nursing students and examine their associations with students' characteristics.

Methods:

Cross-sectional data were collected using the Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI, for measuring IAD) and the Medical Students' Disease (MSD) Perception and Distress Scales.

Results:

Two hundred and sixteen Medical students and 250 Nursing students were recruited from a public female university in Saudi Arabia. Their mean age was 21.27 years. The findings showed that the overall prevalence of IAD (SHAI scores ≥18) among the total sample was 38.8%, with a significantly lower prevalence in medical students compared to the prevalence in nursing students (57.2% vs 17.6%, respectively, X2=45.26, p<.001). Nursing students had significantly higher SHAI scores and lower MSD Perception scores than medical college students, but there were no significant differences among them in the MSD Distress scale. Significant differences in the main study variables scores were reported among nursing students but not among medical students, with the fourth-year level nursing students having higher SHAI and lower MSD Perception and perception scores than other nursing students.

Conclusion:

The highlights that medical and nursing students are susceptible to developing anxiety-related disorders and distress that may have negative impacts on their academic achievements and future careers. Both nursing and medical faculty should help in identifying strategies to support the students' mental health and well-being.

Keywords: Illness anxiety disorder, Hypochondriasis, Medical students, Nursing students, Distress, Symptom disorder.