An Evaluation of Stress in Medical and Dental Students at Kathmandu Medical College, Nepal

Abstract

Background: Medical students are overloaded with many lectures and academic activities, the students spend many hours a day trying to achieve the expected academic outcomes. Stress impacts negatively, the health (mental and physical) and performance (academic and physical), resulting in emotional exhaustion. The impact on health may manifest as depression, substance use and abuse and suicidal tendency. Aims: This cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate the levels of perceived stress and common stressors among medical and dental students at Kathmandu Medical College of Nepal Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey was carried out on the first and second year undergraduate medical and dental students. Perceived stress was assessed using universally accepted COHEN PERCEIVED STRESS SCALE (CPSS-10). The students were given a questionnaire which was completed by them individually during May-June 2017. Results: A total of 375 students (290 medical and 85 dental students) were studied. The mean COHEN PSS score was 25.74(SD 4.56) for medical students and 21.34(SD 4.68) for dental students. Conclusion: Levels of perceived stress were very high in medical students and high in dental students. The most common stressors were related to academic and economic concerns. Such students blamed reasons such as their course overload, monetary matters and stress related to their academic achievements.