Hope and Despair in First-Year Medical Students

The transition of high school to university, as well as accustoming to new peers and teachers, requires a more exceptional ability for students to adapt. Besides, as academic demands and stress increase, some students become more overwhelmed with exams or other requirements, causing despair to appear or accentuate. In some cases, this situation is related to their youth, which can reinforce negative attitudes, as well as anxiety and depression or even, make them feel like they made a wrong decision about choosing their career. This study aims to know the characteristics of hope and despair in first-year medical students that are about to finish the school year. On the other hand, it was necessary to adapt and validate the clinic characteristics of the Hope-Despair Test of Mario Ramon Pereyra to the student population, including a factorial analysis. Results of the factor analysis of the Hope scale, with 11 items, showed a .825 Cronbach Alpha, with two factors explaining 47.8% of the variance. Factor one was called Expectancy, while the second was called Coping. The Despair scale showed a .847 Cronbach Alpha, with three factors that explained 59.95% of the variance. Factor one was called Pessimism, the second Distrust, and the third Regression. In the Expectancy factor, most students tend to look forward to the future and believed they could achieve what they propose (80.2%). In the Copping factor, more than half of the students considered that they can keep making an effort despite adversity, are open to new situations, and tend to be productive. In the scale of Despair, although more than half (50 to 85.8%) hoped for the best, just over the third part was afraid that terrible things might happen in their future. These results emphasize that almost a quarter are easily discouraged and depressed; 9.5% reported thinking that their life was meaningless, and 4.6% have thought of ending their lives. Women scored lower in coping than men. Students mentioned the importance of living at home with their parents as well as having mothers who attended higher education. It is stated that the institutions must offer support to students who tend to despair.