Exploring mental well-being among medical students in the Visegrad four: a cross-national analysis

Abstract

The mental health of medical students is a critical concern, as their well-being directly influences performance and the overall success of educational institutions. This research aimed to investigate the mental well-being of medical students across the Visegrad Four countries. A cross-sectional study with a sample of 1507 students (395 men) was conducted using an online questionnaire in English. Mental well-being was assessed with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, coping strategies with the Brief COPE inventory, and somatic symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire-15. Sociodemographic, health-related data and satisfaction with the university were also measured. K-means cluster analysis was employed to classify students into distinct well-being groups: (1) ‘Stable group’ with high well-being, low somatic symptoms, and strong satisfaction, (2) a ‘Risk group’ with moderate well-being, moderate somatic symptoms, and minimal satisfaction, and (3) a ‘Worst condition group’ characterized by low well-being, high somatic symptoms, and high ratio of mental disorder diagnoses. Multinomial logistic regression indicated that the Stable group displayed higher adaptive coping, less avoidant coping, greater health control, more social support and health-promoting behaviours than the Worst condition group. These insights could inform targeted interventions to improve mental health support in medical education.