Mental health, service awareness, stigma and help-seeking attitudes among medical students in the United Arab Emirates: cross-sectional study

Background The Healthy Minds Study (HMS) Questionnaire is an assessment tool that examines mental health, service awareness and help-seeking behaviour (including stigma and knowledge) among university students. Aims A shortage of tools specifically designed to cater to student populations has resulted in limited data from Arabic-speaking countries on mental health in university students. Our study aimed to describe the prevalence of mental health symptoms, service awareness, stigma and help-seeking attitudes among medical students at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) University. Method We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 87 medical students at the UAE University, using the HMS Questionnaire. Results A total of 73.6% reported at least mild depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) ≥ 5), 35.8% met criteria for probable major depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 10), 46% screened positive for anxiety, 11.5% reported non-suicidal self-injury, 9.2% reported seriously thinking of suicide, 13.8% reported symptoms of an eating disorder, 8.1% agreed that they would think less of a person who has received mental health treatment and 69% agreed that most people would think less of a person who has received mental health treatment. Conclusions We found a high prevalence of mental health difficulties and a reluctance to report and seek help for mental health difficulties among medical students in the UAE, which may be associated with a negative perceived public stigma.