Psychological Distress Among Nursing, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Students: A Longitudinal and Predictive Study

Abstract

In this study, we present longitudinal data on changes in psychological distress among 232 Norwegian undergraduate students of nursing, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy. Psychological distress was assessed by applying the 12‐item version of the General Health Questionnaire. Nursing students became substantially more distressed during the three years of their programme compared to physiotherapy and occupational therapy students. Multivariate analyses showed that the students’ levels of psychological distress at the beginning of the study was the most important predictor of psychological distress at the end of the study. Other significant predictors were qualities of the individual student’s personal life, clarity in educational structure, subjective experience of study workload, and level of support in student milieu.