Abstract

Introduction: Entering into a medical school is‏ ‏characterized by the start of a stressful period ‎for medical students; however, some of them are not able to manage this period and, thus they ‎decide to withdraw from the school. So, the present study investigated the reasons of attrition ‎among the students of medical and other health sciences schools.‎ Method: By using stratified and randomized sampling, 176 students were selected for ‎participating in this study. The present study was a qualitative study using semi-structured ‎interview. Inductive content analysis method was used for data analysis. Results: Five main themes were developed in the present study including: decreased ‎motivation, family issues, financial problems, psychological problems, and fear of future.‎ Conclusion: Attrition in medical and other health sciences schools is an important issue that ‎should be identified at -risk students at early stages, and be supported to prevent drop out‎‎.