Assessment of Stress among First Year Medical Students of Chhattisgarh

Abstract

Stress in medical students is not uncommon and is process orientated. Although minimal amount of stress is desirable in everyday life and is necessary to add a spark in a healthy competitive spirit, the undue stress has undesirable impact on students and also on one's mental and physical health. Medical colleges do have a stressful environment that often exerts a negative effect on the academic performance, physical health and psychological wellbeing of the students. The current study was undertaken to assess the levels & sources of stress among first year undergraduate medical students and to also find if medium of study in their school level also contribute to stress. Hence a cross sectional study was carried among 148 students with the help of Medical Students Stressor Questionnaire to evaluate the level of stress. Upon analysis of the result we found that Academic Related & Intrapersonal & interpersonal related and Teaching and learning related stress were the major sources of stress among the students. Our study highlights the need for interventions in to cope up stress in medical education. Student counseling and informal mentorship is need of hour.