Prevalence of stressors among female medical students, Taibah University

Abstract

Objectives: A stressor is defined as a personal or environmental event that causes stress. Studies have revealed that the stressors affecting medical students' well-being seem to be related to the medical training, especially academic matters. Present study looks into the prevalence of various stressors among female medical students, Taibah University Al Madinah Al Munawarah Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted for all female medical students. The Medical Students Stressor Questionnaire (MSSQ) was used. The response rate was 89.7% (305/340). Statistical analysis was done using percent, mean, standard deviation, Fisher's Exact test, and Kendall's correlation. Results: The mean age of the studied students was 21.4±2.34 years. Their mean score was 3.9±0.73.Nearly half (46.2%) of students had high academic related stress, 50.2% had moderate interpersonal stress, 52.8% had moderate teaching and learning related stress. Nearly two thirds (59.7%) had moderate social related stress, 40.7% had moderate desire related stress and 54.1 had moderate group activity related stress. There were correlation between students score and academic (r=-0.120, p=0.036), interpersonal stress (r=-0.100, p=0.027), desire related stress (r=-0.116, p=0.011) and group activity related stress (r=-0.171, p=0.000). Conclusion: The predominant forms of stressors which were found among female medical students were social, teaching and learning, interpersonal and group activities related stressors. All forms of stressors became more obvious in clinical years. Stressors were negatively correlated to students' score.