Stress, anxiety & depression among medical undergraduate students & their socio-demographic correlates.

Background & objectives: Presence of psychological morbidity in medical undergraduate students has been reported from various countries across the world. Indian studies to document this burden are very few. Therefore, the presence of depression, anxiety and stress among medical undergraduate students was assessed using a previously validated and standardized instrument, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 42) and the associations with their socio-demographic and personal characteristics were identified. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, a self-administered, pre-designed, pre-tested anonymous questionnaire including DASS 42 was used to collect information on basic socio-demographic (age, gender, semester) and personal characteristics (alcohol and tobacco use, academic performance). All students present on the day of survey were contacted for participation after obtaining informed written consent. Scores for each of the respondents over each of the sub-scales (Depression, Anxiety and Stress) were calculated as per the severity-rating index. Results: More than half of the respondents were affected by depression (51.3%), anxiety (66.9%) and stress (53%). Morbidity was found to be more in 5th semester students rather than students of 2nd semester. Females reported higher score as compared to their male counterparts. Perception of self assessment in academics was strongly associated with the higher score. Conclusions: A substantial proportion of medical undergraduate students was found to be depressed, anxious and stressed revealing a neglected area of the students’ psychology requiring urgent attention. Student counselling services need to be made available and accessible to curb this morbidity.

Effects of Organisational Stress on Quality of Life of Primary and Secondary School Teachers.

Background: A considerable amount of literature on organizational stress & its health impact has emerged in the context of schools, and in particular teachers. However the effect of organizational stress on quality of life of teachers has largely remained unstudied especially in India. Aims: The aim of the present study was to study the effect of organizational stress on domains of quality of life of teachers. Methodology: Participants were fifty school teachers (twenty five from the primary section and twenty five from the secondary section). Organizational Stress Scale and WHO-QoL Bref were administered to collect data. Correlation and t-test were utilized to analyze the data. Results: Data analysis revealed that there is highly significant difference between Self Role Distance between primary and secondary school teachers. There was significant correlation between physical domain and role overload; so domain with role stagnation, role expectation conflict, role overload, resource inadequacy. There was highly significant correlation between social domain and organizational stress. Conclusion: Study has implications for improving QoL of teachers by managing the dimensions of Organizational Role Stress.