Longitudinal studies to evaluate stress in first year medical students through cold pressor response and psychological variables

Abstract

Background Medical education has been well documented to be stressful Added on to this the duration of First Professional MBBS has been reduced from frac years to year though the teaching curriculum remained the same It was felt desirable to evaluate stress in First year medical students n through Physiological parameters Blood Pressure Reactivity Response to cold CPR and Psychological scales like General Health Questionnaire Major Hassels Minor Hassels Quality of life and Coping Check List in a longitudinal study design Based on the GHQ Scores and the Blood Pressure Reactivity to cold the students n were classified initially during Phase studies as severely stressed Group I n moderately stressed Group II n and normal Group III n Considerable shifting among the groups occurred during Phase studies with the application of a known stressor i e examination stress Majority of students n exhibited stress during the studies conducted at Phase initial and or Phase Only two students remained stress free throughout The data from the students of various groups were analyzed by inter and intra group comparisons through students rsquo t test at confidence level for any significance As a follow up medical students of next batch were inducted into various relaxation training programs Fifteen students were given yogic relaxation exercises for one hour daily in the evening for weeks students were given Raj yoga meditation training BK group at Brahmakumari centre for one hour daily in the morning for days and students were not given any training Control group The yogic exercises were pranayam yog nidra and shavasan For the BK group the students were given orientation program prior to training with Rajyoga relaxation meditation techniques Different faculty members accompanied each group in the morning or evening The morning sessions used to start around am and evening sessions around pm The results revealed significant coping with administered stress at phase in BK group while control group exhibited significant stress