Perceived stress amongst medical and dental students

Background: Reports in the last decade have shown that healthcare students face a high degree of stress. Cumulative stress leads to depression and suicidal behaviour in some of them. Aims: This study was designed to identify levels of perceived stress amongst medical and dental students in a private institution of South India. Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey carried out on the first year undergraduate medical and dental students. Perceived stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale. The students were given a questionnaire to be completed by them individually during January-February 2011. Results: A total of 234 students (144 medical and 90 dental students) were studied. The mean PSS score was 16.74(SD 5.99) for medical students and 18.23(SD 5.52) for dental students. While girls perceived greater stress amongst medical students, boys perceived greater stress amongst dental students though the difference did not reach statistical significance. Univariate analysis as well as Pearson's correlations identified interpersonal problems with their friends as well as their course load as the most significant stressors amongst the students. Conclusion: Levels of perceived stress are high in medical students and even higher in dental students. The most common sources of stress were related to academic and psychosocial concerns. Such students blamed reasons such as their course overload, pressure from teachers as well as parents, and problems related to their interpersonal issues. Key Messages: Perceived stress levels were found to be significantly higher amongst dental students than amongst medical students comparable to reports from other parts of the world. If monitored periodically during their student life, they can be helped to tackle their stress levels effectively and be saved from slipping into depressions. Key-words: Perceived stress, medical students, dental students Address for correspondence Dr Harihar Chilukuri. Department of Psychiatry, Narayana Medical College, Chintareddy Palem, Nellore-524002. Andhra Pradesh. India Email : c.harihar@gmail.com How to cite this article : Chilukuri H, Bachali S, Naidu JN, Basha SA, Selvam VS. Perceived stress amongst medical and dental students. AP J Psychol Med 2012; 13(2): 104-7. INTRODUCTION: It is being widely reported that medical students undergo substantial stress. Causes for the same are varied, from their interpersonal problems to their course overload to uncertainties of future career prospects. Stress in some of them leads to faulty coping techniques which in turn carry a higher suicidal risk. Efforts are therefore directed towards identifying the specific causes of stress in this specialized population so that effective preventive measures can be instituted both at individual as well as at the institutional level. There is a paucity of studies undertaken in India on this subject. Hence the current study was planned to assess perceived stress levels amongst the health care students in a medical institution in South India and to find out the causes/determinants thereof. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was approved by the institutional ethics committee. The participants were 144 medical students of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) I year and 90 dental students of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) I year of a private medical college in South India. While the male female sex ratio in MBBS students was 59 boys to 85 girls, that in the BDS students was 20 boys to 70 girls. Their mean age was 18 years. The students were addressed by the authors in small batches of 15 to 20 students at a time during Dec-Jan i.e. about four months after entering their professional course. They were given a questionnaire to be filled up by themselves individually. The students were explained as to the aim of this study and their cooperation sought in giving honest answers. The questionnaire consisted of three parts: Profile of the student including information such as age, sex, religion, mother tongue, birth order, number of siblings, parents' occupations, residence in the college hostel or outside in the town. Check list of commonly perceived stress factors out of which the student had to tick those applicable to him or her. AP J Psychological Medicine Vol. 13 (2) July-Dec 2012 105 Chilukuri, et al: Stress amongst students Perceived Stress Scale (PSS): PSS is a ten item Likert type self-rated questionnaire. [1] As per the norms table for the PSS published by Cohen (1994), a score of 14.2 with a SD 6.2 was reported as the norm for 18-29 year age group. [2] For this study therefore, a cut off score of 14 on PSS was chosen below which students were considered to be not under stress. The results were then subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS 20.0, which included descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis Test, Univariate statistics and Pearson's correlations.