Health-Related Quality of Life of Medical Students in a Chinese University: A Cross-Sectional Study

Thus far, there have been no studies adapting the Mandarin 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (the SF-36) questionnaire for assessment of the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of medical students in China. This study aimed to explore the feasibility of that form and analyse its impact factors. The study involved 498 randomly sampled medical students stratified by their academic majors, and general information was collected. The effective response rate was 83.53%. Split-half reliability coefficients and Cronbach’s α coefficients of seven dimensions were more than 0.7 with the exception of the social function (SF) dimension. Spearman’s correlation analysis results were basically in accord with the theoretical construction of the SF-36. The HRQOL of the students was scored from 43.83 (the RE dimension) to 93.34 (the PF dimension). The primary impact factors affecting the HRQOL of medical students included major, sleep quality, degree of physical exercise, post-exercise status, relationship with roommate, and satisfaction with family. These findings suggested that the Mandarin SF-36 was reliable for measuring the HRQOL, that the HRQOL of medical students in a Chinese university was relatively poor, and that its improvement requires concerted efforts.