Abstract:

Background:
University dropout represents a significant challenge in health sciences education, with profound implications for healthcare workforce sustainability. In Romania, as across the European Higher Education Area, students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and those experiencing psychosocial difficulties exhibit heightened dropout risk. Structured needs assessments constitute an evidence-based instrument for the early identification of at-risk student cohorts and the targeted allocation of institutional support resources. This study aimed to characterize the academic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial vulnerability profile of students enrolled at a Romanian medical university and to identify their perceived support needs within the framework of a dropout prevention project.

Methods:
A cross-sectional needs assessment was conducted at the "Victor Babeș" University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timișoara (UMFVBT), Romania. A structured, purpose-designed questionnaire was administered to students identified as eligible for the project's target group, covering five domains: demographic data, academic performance, personal and socioeconomic circumstances, emotional well-being, and perceived support needs. Data from 64 students across six faculties (Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry, Dental Technology, and Physiotherapy), spanning study years II through VI, were collected and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results:
The sample was predominantly female (79.7%; n=51), with 43.8% (n=28) of students originating from rural areas. Despite a generally high academic performance (78.1% reporting GPA >8.50), 46.9% (n=30) of respondents reported high or very high stress levels during the preceding month, and 17.2% (n=11) reported active personal or family problems interfering with academic functioning. Financial support was the most frequently expressed need (81.3%; n=52), followed by career counselling (43.8%; n=28), psychological counselling (35.9%; n=23), and academic remediation through tutoring (25.0%; n=16). A total of 10.9% (n=7) of students self-identified as belonging to a vulnerable group, including single-parent families, orphans, and ethnic minorities. The discordance between high academic performance and elevated psychological distress represents a clinically significant finding warranting targeted intervention.

Conclusions:
These needs assessment reveals a complex vulnerability profile among health sciences students at UMFVBT, characterized by financial precarity, elevated stress burden, and unmet psychosocial support needs, irrespective of formal academic performance. These findings underscore the necessity of multi-dimensional, individualized student support frameworks in medical higher education, and provide an evidence base for the tailored design of dropout prevention interventions within European Social Fund-financed projects – PEO OPORTUN, MySmis 323275.

Keywords:

University dropout prevention, needs assessment, academic vulnerability, psychosocial risk factors, financial hardship, student well-being.