STRESSORS AND THE LEVELS OF STRESS AMONG THE UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL, DENTAL AND NURSING STUDENTS OF A MEDICAL COLLEGE IN KATHMANDU

Abstract

Educational environment in medical schools is highly demanding and stressful due to various factors. Thestudy was aimed to explore level of stress, stressors and the coping strategies among the undergraduatemedical, dental and nursing students of a medical college in Kathmandu. A cross- sectional observationalstudy was conducted among 174 consenting (95 medical, 51 dental and 28 nursing) first year undergraduatestudents with predesigned, pretested, semi-structured questionnaire which included socio-demographicdetails, Kessler psychological distress scale and Medical student stress questionnaire. Average age ofstudents was 19.54±1.28 years. Results revealed that 66.66% of students were under stress with 25.86%having mild, 18.96% having moderate and 21.83% having severe levels of stress. Highest prevalence ofstress was noted among nursing students (75.00%) with 32.14% under severe stress. Among 116 malesand 58 females, males were more stressed (75.00%) than females (50.00%). Most of the students enjoyedmusic and chatted with their close ones to cope with stress. Academic related stressor was found to be themajor stressor (2.65±0.69) with statistically significant association (p< 0.01) with the stress levels amongthe students. Informing students about the “must know” and “good to know” areas of the topics of everysubject may be helpful to decrease the academic related stress. Regular practice of meditation, sports andcultural activities may help to reduce stress.

Keywords : Kessler psychological distress scale,medical student stress questionnaire,stress, stressors