INTRODUCTION: Several studies around the world have shown a significant increase in student mistreatments in the Faculty of Medicine. The purpose of our study was to analyze student mistreatments and associated factors in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Parakou (FM/UP) in 2018.
METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical survey among the students of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Parakou from 1st to 28 February 2018. Participants were second-year medical students (PCEM2), fourth-year medical students (DCEM2) and sixth-year medical students (DCEM4) attending the academic year 2017-2018 and who had freely given their informed consent to participate in the study.
RESULTS: One hundred percent of students of the FM/UP had experienced mistreatment at least once. Students had frequently experienced mistreatment in 34.34% of cases. Humiliation, verbal violence and instigation to personal services were the most common types of violence. However, approximately 10% of students had experienced sexual harassment. Perpetrators of mistreatments were doctors/teachers, nurses and interns. Female students were three times more sexually harassed than their colleagues of the opposite sex (p=0.0069). The older the students were and enrolled in the second-year of the Faculty of Medicine, the more they experienced humiliation (p=0.0001 for age and p<0.0001 for education) and verbal violence (p=0.0007 for age and p<0.0001 for education).
CONCLUSION: This study highlights that all the students of the FM/UP have experienced mistreatment at least once after enrolment in the university. Based on this study, university officials should implement communication strategies to change the abusive behavior of teachers and supervisors. A register of complaints would also be useful in reducing this phenomenon.