Association of Academic Stress, Anxiety and Depression with Social-Demographic among Medical Students

Abstract

Background: Medical education programmes aim at producing wholesome of competent and skilled graduates, research have shown that students experience stress which impacts on their health, academic performance and social functioning. This paper aims to determine the extent of academic stress, depression and anxiety among medical undergraduates and to explore the correlation between academic stressors, psychological stress and socio-demographic background among first year medical students at National University of Science and Technology.

Method: This descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken by first-year medical students in 2016 at NUST Division of Social Medical Sciences. A validated and standardised survey Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 42) questionnaire was used. Data was analysed by SPSS version 21.0.

Results: Nineteen first-year midwifery students participated in the study. Males were 63.1% while females were 38.8%. Seventy-three per cent of the participants experienced stress during the programme, of which forty-nine percent were females. Female students showed severe stress of 6±1.15 as compared to their male counterparts who scored extremely severe stress of 3.81±1.53. Academic, health-related and psychosocial problems were the chief sources of stress.

Conclusion: Stress impacts negatively on undergraduate students. Midwifery students need guidance, mentorship and educational integration support to identify and monitor their own well-being.  These measures should promote a balance in selection of positive strategies to overcome stress, managing workload and time effectively during study period.