Assessment of Perceived Stress and Stress Predictors Among Dental Students: An Institutional- Based Study

Abstract

Background: Stress is one of the most prevalent psychological conditions globally. However, healthcare students are at an increased risk of psy-chological distress as compared to the normal population. Medical/Dental training is considered a stressful experience for students as they face a wide range of challenges related to their lengthy curriculums, patient care, and pursuit of academic excellence. Purpose: To assess the prevalence of perceived stress levels and associ-ated risk factors among undergraduate dental students Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 230 under-graduate dental students to assess their perceived stress using the Modi-fied version of the Dental Environment Stress questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Most dental students reported mild stress related to most of the academic and clinical components in the questionnaire. However, a higher percentage of pre-clinical students reported moderate and severe stress (37.5% & 14.1% respectively) as compared to clinical year students (6.8% and 1.5% respectively) with p>0.05. The major risk factors causing stress were competitiveness among peers, the pressure of the assessments, and the inability to balance the clinical and academic workload. Conclusion: Undergraduate dental students were found to be under stress due to a range of factors. The faculties need to identify and alleviate such stress among students through support systems.