Evaluation of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding stress management among undergraduate medical students at tertiary care teaching hospital, New Delhi

:Medical training requires continuous efforts and high level of perseverance, patience and commitment from medical students. Due to this performance pressure, students face high level of stress which affects not only their health negatively but also their thinking and learning abilities gets hampered.This study aimsto evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of stress management among undergraduate MBBS students at Hamdard Institute of medical sciences & research, Jamia Hamdard attatched to Hakeem Abdul Hameed Centenary hospital, a tertiary care hospital, New Delhi, India.A total of 254 undergraduate students of first year, second year and third first year of MBBS were explained the aims and objectives of the study and written informed consents were obtained from those who were willing to participate in the study. The questionnaire consisted of 12 questions regarding knowledge, attitude and practice on stress management [Annexure attached]. The students were asked to fill the questionnaire by themselves within 30 minutes of time. Out of 12 questions, 4 questions were of knowledge, 3 of attitude and 5 of practice regarding stress management among medical undergraduates. The questionnaires were collected and evaluated for their completeness. The data were recorded in Microsoft Excel Worksheet and analyzed.Out of 254 total undergraduates, 32.3%, 35.8% and 31.8% of students were of first, second and third year MBBS, respectively. 46.5% were male and 53.5% were female students. 28.4% students gave a relevant definition of stress. The most common condition related to stress is anxiety (79.6%). Only 37.4% of students could answer the correct clinical features of stress. Most common stressors were large syllabus (124%), less study time (28.7%) followed by apprehension to viva-voce. 72.7% of students marked that they have faced difficulties in adapting to the new environment and feeling home sickness, which was particularly seen in first-year students. Lack of friends (58.6%) was the most common non-academic cause of stress. 64.9% students had confronted stress because of competition related stress. Most commonly used stress relieving activities by the students was listening to music (63.7%) mostly in female students, followed by watching internet videos (24.1%) particularly in male students. Meditation and prayer were practiced by only 0.8% of students. 2.4% of students indulged themselves in their favorite hobbies when felt stress out and 5.1% students became addicted to smoking and alcohol.There were various stressors among medical students which has an adverse effect on the mental health of the medical students. There is an urgent need to establish and implement some strategies in order to adapt with the prevailing stress factors. Therefore, apart from the academic teaching, extracurricular activities such as meditation/yoga classes, sport activities, psychological counselling etc., should be incorporated in the medical curriculum. This will enhance the ability of students to deal with stress more effectively and this will definitely aid in improving their work efficiency.