Golestan Medical University Students' Mental Health: When They Enter to University and One Year After

Background and Objective: Student's ­ mental ­ health­ is one of the effective factors on academic achievement and it seems that the experience of university environment leads to some changes in it. The aim of this study was the assessment of Golestan medical university students' mental health, when they enter university and after one year.   Material and Methods: In this descriptive and analytical study,the mental health of ۱۳۲ students of Golestan university of medical sciences were measured in two times. The first was in entrance to university and the second was after one year.The date was gathered by a demographic data sheet and general health questionnaire (GHQ-۲۸). Statistical analysis was done in SPSS­-۱۶ software environment,using descriptive statistics, spearman correlation coefficient, paired T-­test and independent T-­test.   Results: The subjects aged۱۹.۸۹ ± ۱.۲۲ are both boys(n=۴۳,۳۲.۶%) and girls(n=۸۹,۶۷.۴%). In entrance to university, ۲۲% of students are indicaled as an inappropriate mental health.Paired­ T-test indicated that students' total mental health score and its subscales (somatic symptom, anxiety and sleep disorder, social dysfunction and depression) has no significant difference in two measurements­(P>۰.۰۵).Based on independent T-test, the second measurement of mental health is not significant between dormitory residents and non dormitory students, and between native and nonnative students (P>۰.۰۵).    Conclusion: According to our finding, in first year of university, student's mental health has no special changes. Small sample size and lack of follow up in later years of university can be our study limitation.