Perceived stressors of undergraduate dental students at an Australasian dental school

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the perceived stressors of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) students at a prominent Australasian dental school using the Dental Environment Stress (DES) questionnaire. All BDS students were emailed a modified version of the DES questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of forty questions: seven collecting demographic information, one free text question and thirty-two items related to various sources of stress, grouped into four subscales: 1) Academic 2) Clinical and patient related 3) Environmental and 4) Personal. Students were asked to rate the items on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from not at all stressful (1) to extremely stressful (5). Of the 314 students emailed, 165 responded to the survey (52.5% response rate). The academic subscale had the highest self-reported mean stress score (3.09 ± 0.68 (SD)); compared with the clinical (2.71 ± 0.77), environmental (2.40 ± 0.77) and personal (2.37 ± 0.68) subscales. There was a statistically significant difference (p<0.05) in self-perceived clinic related stress levels between male and female students, with female students reporting more stress. There was also a statistically significant difference in self-perceived environmental stress between second- and third-year students (p=0.037), and in perceived personal stress between students based on their English language status (p=0.034). These findings can enable identification of students who might be at higher risk of stress to ensure support is provided for them; specifically, female students and students in their third year. Results also indicate the need to develop interventions to help all students with academic stressors.