Academic workload as a predictor of medical students’ psychological distress: findings from Zimbabwean medical schools
Mqemane Tshababa, Temba Munsaka & Mokoena Patronella Maepa
Abstract
Medical education is one of the most rigorous and demanding training programs in higher education. Medical students are expected to cope with long hours of study, to be more resilient to deal with the distress that comes from the medical training. The objective of this paper was to explore the extent to which academic workload can predict medical students’ psychological distress at two emerging medical schools in Zimbabwe. The probability sampling methods were used to select the respondents of this study. One hundred and twenty-three medical students were selected using stratified sampling technique and the simple random sampling technique. The respondents’ ages ranged from 18 to 47. The data for the study were collected using self-reported structured questionnaire. The data were entered into SPSS version 28 and analysed using regression analysis. The computed quantitative data showed significant relationships between academic workload and medical students’ psychological distress. Academic demands explained a significant amount of variance in psychological distress, F (1, 61) = 7.847, p=0.007, R2=.114, R2adjusted=.099. About 9.9% of variability in distress experienced by medical students is caused by academic workload. The regression coefficient (B=0.338, 95% Cl [1.178, 2.054]) indicated that for every unit increase in academic workload, the psychological distress score increased by 0.435 points. Based on the findings, it is recommended that medical students be trained on peer to peer counselling to provide counselling to each other before the arrival of qualified and experienced therapists.
Keywords
coping mechanisms, academic demands, distress, mental health, policy
Author information & Contribution
Mqemane Tshababa. Corresponding author. Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Medicine, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, South Africa. Email: mqemanetshababa@gmail.com
Temba Munsaka. MSc in Clinical Psychology student. Department of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe. Email: syacibole@gmail.com
Mokoena Patronella Maepa. Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Medicine, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, South Africa. Email: mokoenamaepa@gmail.com
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Research and Innovation Office funded the study.
Institutional Review Board Statement
The study received ethical approval from the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe (approval number MRCZ/A/2798).
AI Declaration
The authors acknowledge the use of Open AI’s Chat GPT (GPT-4, 2025) for assisting in the advancement of wording, integration of cited works, and synthesizing language grammar. Although the AI-assisted tool improved language expression, the interpretations and analyses, as well as all content presented, are solely the responsibility of the authors and their scholarly judgment.
Notes
Acknowledgement
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Cite this article:
Tshababa, M., Munsaka, T. & Maepa, M.P. (2026). Academic workload as a predictor of medical students’ psychological distress: findings from Zimbabwean medical schools. International Review of Social Sciences Research, 6(1), 185-203. https://doi.org/10.53378/irssr.353314
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