Stress, Depression and Anxiety among Medical Students of Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud Islamic University, KSA

Abstract

Background: Exposure of Physicians to some stress factors during the occupational environmental work could induce some psychological problems. The first postgraduate years are particularly susceptible to these problems. In Arab countries, epidemiological data about psychological morbidity among medical undergraduate students are scarce. The Objective of the present study was to assess anxiety and depression levels among the third-year imam medical college students. Methods: A cross sectional study was done on the medical students of the 3rd year at Imam University; College of Medicine in Riyadh city on 2013. The sample consisted of 50 male medical students. The Higher Education Stress Inventory (HESI) was used in data collection. Results: Our results showed that 24% of the students were with minimal depression, 18% of students was with mild depression, 8% of student was with moderate depression, 2% of student was with moderately severe depression and none (0%) of student was reported with severe depression. Conclusion: The study indicated that medical students are extra sensitive to deal with the environmental occupational atmosphere which stress factors could prevail, so, depression and anxiety are common among medical students. Large, prospective, multicenter, multi-method studies are needed to identify personal and curricula features that influence stress, depression, anxiety and coping strategies among medical students. The study findings highlighted the need of psychiatric counseling and preventive mental health services to be an integral part of the routine clinical facilities caring for medical students.