Students' self-perception about their Quality of Life is overestimated: is this the base of their mental troubles?

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the medical student perception about their QoL, in order to be aware of their own problems. Methods: We applied three instruments: SF36 health questionnaire; a QoL self-perception questionnaire and a questionnaire regarding self-awareness and coping strategies to medical students from first to fourth year. Results: 203 students answered the questionnaires (women 64.5% and median age 20 years). Students self-perception about QoL was overestimated in most of the domains except in physical role functioning (p <0.001). There was a significant difference between genders, and men showed a greater deviation from SF36 to QoL self-perception for mental health domain than women (p=0.04). Regarding questionnaire about self-awareness, most of them felt that the way they think is consistent with what they act frequently, know their own needs and evaluate their QoL as good or great. In relation to coping strategies, seek out other people was one of the most common functional strategies used. When analyzing such results between genders, women increased their food intake more than men (P = 0.002). Conclusion: Student self-perception about QoL is mistaken and overestimated.