Prevalence, Sources and Severity of Stress among New Undergraduate Medical Entrants

Abstract

Objectives: The past decade has seen a globally increasing trend in the prevalence of stress among medical students. The objectives of our study were to assess stress prevalence, sources of stress and their severity and to assess the determinants of stressed cases in new undergraduate medical entrants. Methods: Two hundred and fourteen students (M=130, F=84), who had just completed their first week in the institute, participated voluntarily in a cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire based study. After collecting demographic data, the prevalence of stress was assessed using the 12 item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and sources of stress and their severity by the 40 item Medical Students Stressor Questionnaire (MSSQ). Results: Demographic characteristics of male and female participants were comparable. Prevalence of stress was 42.1% (M=27% F=17%) of which almost 8% had severe stress. The severity of academically related stressors was found to be the highest among medical students, with approximately one-third (34.1%) of the participants perceiving them to be causing high or severe stress. Self rated severity of all other stressor domains was either mild or moderate in more than 85% of the participants. There was a significant correlation of GHQ with total MSSQ scores (r=0.48, p<0.01), as well as all six stressor domains (r=0.22 to 0.53, p<0.01). By logistic regression analysis stressed cases were associated with group activity related stressors (B=1.095, SE=0.31, Wald=12.39, p<0.001). Conclusion: Considerably high prevalence of stress was self-reported by new medical undergraduate entrants. Academic related factors were greater sources of stress when compared to non-academic factors in these participants.