scholarly journals Stress among Portuguese Medical Students: A National Cross-Sectional Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Maria João Oura ◽  
Ana Raquel Moreira ◽  
Paulo Santos

Introduction. The medical course is extremely stimulating but also demanding, and it can interfere with students’ mental health. Stress leads to lower life quality, academic performance, and ultimately to a lower quality of patient care delivered. Objective. To analyse stress levels of sixth-year medical students who attend Portuguese colleges. Methodology. This observational cross-sectional study involved Portuguese medical students attending the sixth year of all Portuguese faculties. We applied an online self-response questionnaire, including the 10 items Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to assess stress levels and sociodemographic variables. Logistic regression was used to estimate the weight of the studied determinants on stress levels. Results. A total of 501 participants were included for analysis (69.5% females), with a median age of 24 years old. We found significant levels of stress in 49.9% (95% CI: 45.5–54.3%), with 20.8% of total students presenting extremely high levels, irrespective of age, gender, and faculty. Stress was higher when students presented bad sleeping and eating habits, lack of ability to manage time, dissatisfaction with social life and academic experience, and low family support. Also, these students are more worried about their future and present a higher degree of concern about their graduation test performance. Conclusion. This study found high stress levels among Portuguese medical students, associated with social determinants and the intrinsic complexity of the course. This is worrying, and it elucidates the importance of coping strategies to make students deal with stress and be healthier, currently and in the future.

Author(s):  
Maria Mathew ◽  
Navya C J ◽  
Vidhu M Joshy

Coping strategies used by an individual for stress determine its effect on health and the body’s functioning. Academic challenges make the first year medical students disparately susceptible to it. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the first year undergraduate medical students of a private medical college in Thrissur, Kerala to find the prevalence of stress and the coping strategies used with the help of pretested and validated questionnaire containing the Perceived Stress Scale 10 (PSS-10) and Brief COPE Inventory. 73% of the students had moderate stress and, 20% of the students had high-stress scores. Self-distraction and religion {(6.66 ±1.52), (6.55 ±1.58)}were the most common coping strategies used by the boys and girls respectively. The prevalence of stress was high among the first year undergraduate medical students and those with high-stress scores were found to use maladaptive coping strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deemah A. AlAteeq ◽  
Razan Alotaibi ◽  
Raneem Al Saqer ◽  
Njoud Alharbi ◽  
Maram Alotaibi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background University students use caffeine to cope with stress in spite of its adverse effects. The purpose of this study is to explore caffeine consumption among university students in Saudi Arabia, as well as its correlation with stress and caffeine intoxication. This cross-sectional study examined a convenience sample of 547 students at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU). A self-administrated questionnaire was used to assess caffeine consumption in milligrams per day, stress was assessed by the perceived stress scale (PSS), and caffeine intoxication was assessed using the DSM-5 criteria. Results The mean total caffeine consumption was 424.69 ± 385.31 mg/day. High levels of caffeine consumption were found among students of non-health colleges and students who were undiagnosed with psychiatric disorders (p values <0.040 and 0.027, respectively). A significant positive correlation was found between caffeine consumption and perceived stress (p<0.045). Only 13.26% of all participants fulfilled the DSM-5 criteria for caffeine use disorder. The majority of participants showed moderate and high stress levels (69.9% and 18.7%). Conclusion This study revealed high caffeine consumption and perceived stress levels among female undergraduate students with a significant positive association between them. The results emphasize the importance of educational campaigns about caffeine consumption and intoxication. They also encourage the development of stress management programs. Longitudinal studies need to be designed for evidence-based intervention.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-74
Author(s):  
Sushil Kharel ◽  
Bionod Raut

Background: Stress is a physical, mental or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Stress upsets an individual both mentally and physically. Study showed that medical students suf­fer from higher stress than other stream students. Among medical students also female students are more prone to stress due to varied reasons. This study aimed to determine the stress among female medical and dental undergraduates. Methods: This cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate and assess the levels of perceived stress and common stressors among female medical and dental students at a teaching institute of Kathmandu, Nepal. A cross-sectional study was done to the first- and second-year undergraduate female medical and dental students. Perceived stress was evaluated using universally accepted Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS-10). Results: A total of 176 female medical and dental students were enrolled in the study. The mean COHEN PSS score was found to be 27.97 (SD 4.32) which showed high stress among study popula­tion. Fifty nine percent (59%) of the female medical and dental students had perceived stress. Conclusions: Levels of perceived stress were very high in female students. The most common stressors were related to educational and economic concerns. The students were more focused to daily matters and problems related to their academic achievements.


Author(s):  
M. Amruth ◽  
Akshath Kumar

Background: Obesity and overweight is increasing nowadays among the medical students. Erratic eating habits and other lifestyle related risk factors are mainly implicated for this increasing burden, and research related to these risk factors is essential, considering their role as future physicians and role models in public health intervention programs. The present study was conducted to estimate the BMI values of medical students and to compare obesity among male and female students with their socio-demographic factors, eating habits and lifestyle.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students in a medical college in Kerala during 1st May 2018 to 30th July 2018. A total of 573 students out of 600 participated in the study. Using a structured questionnaire data was collected. BMI was calculated for 483 medical students with age group of 20 years and above including 173 males and 310 females. SPSS version 17 was used for statistical analysis.Results: Using WHO BMI classification 18.2% were overweight and 2.1% were obese. Using Asia- Pacific BMI classification 18.2% were overweight and 20.3% were obese. Male students were more obese than females. Skipping breakfast, eating full stomach, not knowing balanced nutrition, eating fatty foods and snacks, eating more under stress and drinking soft drinks were common unhealthy eating habits among obese students.Conclusions: Obesity and overweight is very prevalent among medical students. Improving their knowledge regarding balanced nutrition, regular eating habits, proper stress management and adoption of healthy lifestyle will result in proper body weight and prevent obesity complications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 113-122
Author(s):  
Syed Muhammad Ashraf Jahangeer ◽  
Nimra Hasnain ◽  
Muhammad Taha Tariq ◽  
Ammara Jamil ◽  
Syeda Yamna Zia ◽  
...  

Introduction: This study aimed at determining the frequency and association of stress levels with modes of transportation and was likely to reveal the contributing transportation-related factors for stress in medical students. Methods: This was a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study that included undergraduate medical students of a public sector medical university in Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 573 students participated voluntarily, of which 300 were provided a manual questionnaire and 273 filled it online. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha at 0.791. The collected data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 21.0. Results: Out of 573 participants, 99.3% (n = 298) of students filled the questionnaire manually, whereas 100% of students filled the questionnaire online. Almost two-thirds of students used university transport; more than 90% lived more than 5 km from the university and 56% had a traveling time of more than an hour. Approximately 15.4% of students reported physical trauma and some form of harassment. Sheldon Cohen’s stress scale surprisingly revealed 90% of students to be within the moderate-to-high stress category. Risk factors were associated with stress levels and significant associations were observed with noise exposure (P = 0.023) and sleep quality (P = 0.001). The most common reported stressors associated with commuting included overcrowding, long travel, and air and noise pollution. Noise pollution was the main predictor of stress among commuters. Conclusion: Poor transportation has adverse effects on health and academic performance. Administration in their respective jurisdictions is needed to investigate this matter to make commuting a routine rather than a hassle.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alhadi M. Jahan ◽  
Marwa Mohamed ◽  
Mohammed Alfagieh ◽  
Nehal Alnawy ◽  
Muhayman Alsabiri ◽  
...  

Background: Since the outbreak of COVID-19 were announced in Wuhan, China, the virus has spread in most countries. After one year of restrictive measures applied by governments, it is unclear how this prolonged social distancing has affected the mental health of individuals in Libya. Therefore, the present study aims to assess the levels of perceived stress, depression, sleep disturbance, and self-efficacy associated with the pandemic in Libya and their association with the demographic factors.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 10 and November 10, 2020 in 21 cities in Libya using an online survey. The survey collected socio-demographic variables and other important psychological variables using valid scales: namely, the Perceived Stress scale, the PROMIS Depression scale, the PROMIS Sleep Disturbance scale, and self-efficacy 6-item scale. Additionally, data were collected regarding eating and smoking habits, housing and living situations, and the preparedness of the public to manage the upcoming waves of the pandemic.Results: The questionnaire was accessed 746 times, and a total of 683 completed questionnaires were analyzed (response rate of 91.6%), with ages ranging from 18 to 94 years (Mean ± SD = 27.09 ± 10.57). Among the respondents, 58.4% were females and 77% were from the age group 18–29 years. The perceived stress, depression, and sleep disturbance symptoms were high in overall population. For stress, 52.7 and 17.1% of respondents reported moderate and high stress, and for sleep quality 28.8 and 8.1% reported moderate and high sleep disturbance, respectively. For depression, the overall median score was 20 (out of 40). The perceived stress, depression, and sleep disturbance were more prevalent among females and the younger age groups (18–29 years old). The overall self-efficacy median total score was 6.67 (out of 10), with a significantly higher median total score for males than females (7 vs. 6.33, p = 0.001). About 14.5% of the respondents were regular cigarette smokers, and most of them (79.8%) described their smoking habits during the previous month as more than typical. In addition, the reported eating habits of almost half of the respondents (43%) had changed, with about one-third (29.6%) reporting that their eating habits had become less healthy during the pandemic.Conclusion: The findings of this research suggest increased levels of stress, depression, and sleep disturbances as well as COVID-19-related fear during the pandemic, especially among young females. This alarming finding urgently calls for safe and low-barrier interventions to help mentally burdened individuals. This study makes a significant contribution in providing essential data on the psychological and social impacts on the Libyan population due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


Author(s):  
Alia Naaz ◽  
◽  
Mohammad Saad ◽  

Introduction: Stress and anxiety have been a common topic of discussion among the medicalstudents in normal circumstances owing to the burden of immense studies, clinical rotations, regularexams and assessments. Material and methods: A cross sectional study consisting of 330 medicalstudents studying in various medical colleges in various states like Himachal, Karnataka, Haryana,Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab, Delhi etc. was conducted using online forms that were shared in variousWhatsApp college groups. The questionnaire was a simple 10 question form consisting of theKessler's psychological distress scale questions. The stress levels were defined according to theKessler's psychological distress scale k10. Results: The results of the study showed that 72.5% oftotal participants suffered from mild to moderate levels of stress with 20.6% students suffering frommild stress, 15.5% from moderate stress and significant 36.4% from severe stress. Similarly,various socio-demographic determinants have also been studied for any relation to these high stresslevels. The treatment seeking behaviour among medical students also reflected poorly when it cameto seeking help from health professionals. Conclusion: It was found that during the covid-19lockdown, medical students suffered from severe stress levels which is a topic of concern for theauthorities and calls for a timely intervention to control the situation. The treatment seekingbehaviour is also a topic of concern as medical students being most exposed to the knowledge ofmental health do not themselves prefer to take treatment from a health professional.


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