COVID-19 PANDEMIC: HOW STRESSED THE STUDENTS AND FACULTY ARE?

Abstract

Objective: To assess the perceived stress levels amongst faculty and students of medicine, dentistry and allied health sciences during COVID-19 pandemic.
 Methods: This multi-institutional descriptive study was conducted from April to June 2020. All the students and faculty from three institutes namely University College of Medicine, University College of Dentistry and Institute of Allied Health Sciences were invited to participate. Data were collected using a pre-validated Perceived Stress Scale (PSS -10). Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated using SPSS v.21.
 Results: 1199 responses were obtained. Students from University College of Medicine reported higher score on the perceived stress scale (23.02+11.85) than those from University College of Dentistry (21.87+10.86) and Institute of Allied Health Sciences (21.95+11.32). The students and the faculty experienced stress ‘sometimes to fairly often’ during this pandemic. Females experienced more stress than males and there were no significant differences among students and faculty of various age groups.
 Conclusion: During COVID-19 pandemic, the students and the faculty from medicine, dentistry and allied health sciences institutes are moderately stressed. The medical students are more affected than the allied health students and the faculty in general. Institutions should promote resilience and mental well-being and provide for flexible work schedules.