PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS LEVELS IN MEDICAL STUDENTS AND TEACHERS DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

Background: In present situation, Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged as major threat to physical health of people, along with paramount socio-economic and unmeasurable psychological consequences globally. Psychological impact of these prevalent circumstances is far more challenging for medical students and medical teachers. Aim: This study focuses on assessing mental stress levels in medical students and teachers due to COVID-19 pandemic. Methods:Across-sectional observational study with a sample size of 119 medical students and 60 medical teachers was conducted by Department of Physiology, Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India. Two established validated scales - perceived stress scale -10 and Zung self-rating anxiety scale, were used to determine stress and anxiety status respectively of both medical students and medical teachers during ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and also decipher their association with other socio-demographic and emotional conditions. Data was collected through an online survey distributed as google forms. Results: Perceived stress and anxiety levels were high amongst both medical students and medical teachers. Correlational analysis revealed strong positive association between perceived stress score and anxiety score in both the groups. Even after normalization of age and similar distribution of gender in two groups - medical students had higher anxiety and perceived stress levels than medical teachers. Conclusion: The existing COVID outbreak is culminating to higher stress and anxiety levels in the medical profession with higher manifestation of the same in medical students. Remedial measures and effective training should be provided to this affected group.