A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS DURING PRE AND POST COVID-19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN.

Abstract

Background: Medical students are facing huge challenge due to COVID-19 pandemic which has impacted their learning and has become vital stressor and affecting their psychological well-being. The objective of this study was to assess the perception of the stress among the undergraduate medical students and their coping strategies pre and post lockdown. Materials and Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 321 undergraduate medical students at Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, Mandya, Karnataka, India. This study was initiated after getting approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee. After obtaining consent the extent of the students stress was assessed using Perceived Stress Scale and Brief COPE was used to assess their coping strategies. Scores were analysed using paired t test in Microsoft excel/ SPSS software. Results: On paired 't' t test the mean difference in total score was 0.68 and the p value was 0.166 for scores of perceived stress scale, similarly the mean difference in scores of sub groups under coping strategies was 0.90 and 0.49 with 'p' value 0.173 and 0.498 respectively. Conclusion: Overall, there was not much of difference in scores of perceived stress scale and coping strategies before and after lockdown. Except for minor difference across age group and scores of specic coping strategies which was again not statistically signicant.