Prevalence of stress among third year medical students at Gulf Medical University

ABSTRACT

To identify prevalence of stress among third year medical students of Ajman Gulf Medical University, to determine leading sources of stress based on six main stressor groups, and to explore association between stress and socio-demographic factors, past life experiences, social support system and coping mechanism. A cross sectional study was conducted by the use of self-reported questionnaire to assess prevalence of stress among third year M.B.B.S students at Gulf Medical University during November, 2012. Prevalence of stress and leading stress inducing factors were analyzed on the basis of gender, ethnicity, age group, past experiences and social support system. Data was analyzed using Excel and SPSS software. Appropriate tests [Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U] were used find any association. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the results. Medical students of third year Gulf Medical University suffer from moderate degree of stress with median score of 2.77 [on a scale of 0 to 4]. Academic related stressors with median score of 3.03 shows the highest level of stress among all and teaching and learning related stressors shows the lowest stress with the median score of 2.45. Major stress inducing factors were lack of time for family and friends, heavy workload and tests / examinations. Maximum amount of stress is seen in students from the American region with median score of 2.90. Those students without family support showed more stress with median score of 3.04 however students with more support from their friends showed a higher stress score with a median score of 2.72. Medical students in third year of Gulf Medical University suffer from moderate degree of stress. Academic related stressors induce the highest level of stress. There were statistically significant association between stress and ethnicity and between stress and type of accommodation