Nursing and medical students’ engagement and quality of life

This is an observational, analytical, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, carried out with 219 undergraduate students, using three self-administered questionnaires: one with sociodemographic data; Study & Well-being Survey, to assess student engagement; and the Medical Outcomes Study 36 – Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), to assess quality of life. Data normality was tested using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and for inferential analysis, within expected standards, Spearman’s correlation test between the engagement dimensions and the quality of life domains was used.

Results

A total of 171 medical students and 48 nursing students participated, 160 (73.06%) female and 59 (26.94%) male. Engagement had a mean score of 3.57 ± 0.92 and quality of life with an average greater than 50. The correlation between engagement and quality of life was considered moderate between the vigor dimension and the energy/vitality domain (r=0.505), and health mental (r=0.332) and between dedication (r=0.400) and absorption (r=0.313) dimensions with the energy/vitality domain.

Conclusion

The correlation was weak between most nursing and medical students’ quality of life and engagement domains.

Engagement; Quality of life; Students, medical; Students, nursing

UWES dimensions	Min	Max	Md	Mean±SD	(95%)CI	Interpretation
Vigor	1.00	6.00	3.16	3.23±0.99	3.10-3.36	Average
Dedication	1.80	6.00	4.20	4.12±1.11	3.97-4.27	High
Absorption	0.83	5.66	3.33	3.46±1.02	3.32-3.60	Average
Overall score	1.76	5.58	3.58	3.57±0.92	3.45-3.69	Average

Domains	Total mean (± SD)	Medicine (± SD)	Nursing (± SD)
Functional capacity	89.25 ± 14.00	90.08 ± 14.01	86.25 ± 13.64
Physical role limitations	56.74 ± 39.31	56.43 ± 39.31	57.81 ± 38.87
Bodily pain	66.52 ± 20.71	67.37 ± 20.76	63.45 ± 20.62
General health perceptions	68.12 ± 20.66	68.35 ± 20.73	67.29 ± 20.06
Energy/vitality	44.27 ± 19.98	43.68 ± 19.79	46.35 ± 29.21
Social functioning	59.08 ± 24.94	58.84 ± 24.76	53.89 ± 25.06
Emotional role limitations	35.46 ± 39.69	31.96 ± 39.61	47.91 ± 39.45
Mental health	55.85 ± 20.16	56.07 ± 20.03	55.08 ± 20.29

SF-36^acomponents	Vigor		Dedication		Absorption
SF-36^acomponents	r	p-value	r	p-value	r	p-value
Domains
Functional capacity	0.170	0.003	0.055	0.138	0.109	0.145
Physical role limitations	0.143	0.075	0.097	0.191	0.117	0.125
Bodily pain	0.158	0.039	0.081	0.280	0.093	0.295
General health perceptions	0.288	0.000	0.175	0.011	0.145	0.054
Energy/vitality	0.505	0.000	0.400	0.000	0.313	0.000
Social functioning	0.235	0.000	0.171	0.010	0.117	0.082
emotional role limitations	0.277	0.000	0.271	0.000	0.122	0.049
Mental health	0.332	0.000	0.286	0.000	0.200	0.003

Escola Paulista de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal de São Paulo R. Napoleão de Barros, 754, 04024-002 São Paulo - SP/Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 5576 4430 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: actapaulista@unifesp.br

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[1] Corresponding author: Maria Helena Pinto E-mail: helmarpi@gmail.com