Background: In the challenging realm of health-science education, a rigorous curriculum, combined with the expectations to thrive in a fiercely competitive environment, affects students' academic performance, physical health, and psychological well-being. Objective(s): This paper embarks on an exploration of mental health within the University of Guyana; College of Medical Sciences, contextualizing it within a global landscape of stress, anxiety, and depression that afflicts aspiring healthcare professionals. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the researchers investigated the correlation between student concerns and mental health. They utilized Google Forms to administer Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale questionnaires to 265 participants. The modified scale included 9 items rated on a five-point Likert scale, achieving a post-administration Cronbach alpha score of 0.854. Psychological distress was defined as scores below 26 out of 45. Chi-squared tests were employed to examine associations between worries and indicators of psychological distress, such as sleep disturbance and university studies. Additionally, Chi-squared tests were used to assess connections between students' requests for support and their mental well-being scale category. Statistical analyses were conducted with a 95% confidence interval and a significance level of p < 0.05, including odds ratios to explore relationships between reported sleep disturbance, worries, and daily living or university activities. Results: The chi-square tests revealed a significant correlation between students seeking support from academic staff and concerns about finances (X² = 9.085, df=1, p< 0.003), as well as between sleep disturbance and listed worries among students (X² = 20.647, df=1, p< 0.001). Students who worried about finances were found to be 2 times more likely to require support from academic staff compared to their counterparts (OR: 2.0944, CI: 1.2909 to 3.3983, z statistic: 2.994, Significance level P = 0.0028). Those reporting interference with daily living activities and university studies due to worries were 3 times more likely to experience sleep disturbance (OR: 3.0421, CI: 1.8699 to 4.9492, Z statistic: 4.481, Significance level P < 0.0001). Normality was confirmed through a Shapiro-Wilk test using the modified questionnaire (Test statistic W= 0.993, df: 289, p-value: 0.175). An independent sample t-test comparing mean scores on a Warwick-Edinburgh mental health well-being test showed a significant difference between those who worry about university studies and those who do not t (5.676), df= 287, p<0.001) with a large effect size (d=0.839). Conclusions: The research highlights the pressing necessity for specific interventions aimed at tackling psychological distress and easing concerns among students in health science.
