Stressors, Coursework Stress and Coping Strategies among medical students in a private medical school of Karachi, Pakistan.

Background. The transition into higher education is stressful as university students face many stressful events. Medical students must deal with stressors specific to medical education. While many students adjust effectively to the university context, large proportions of students are at risk of developing mental health problems. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the most common medical student’s stressors and coping strategies among undergraduate students enrolled in the Medical School of Arsi University and their association with educational year levels. Methods. An Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted on 265 medical students by systematic random sampling. Data were collected by pretested self-administrative questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS-21 software. Logistic regression analysis was employed, and statistical significance was accepted at p < 0.05 . Result. In the present study, 5 questionnaires were rejected for incompleteness, giving a response rate of 98.1%. The top sources of stress were lack of time to review, conflict with teacher(s), and uncertainty of what was expected. ARS domain was the main cause of high stress, followed by IRS and TLRS. Religious coping, active coping, positive reframing, and planning were the most commonly used coping strategies. When preclinical year students were compared with the clinical years, TLRS and DRS domains were identified as the most common cause of stress in the preclinical years. Furthermore, instrumental support, behavioral disengagement, acceptance, religion, self-blame, and emotional support were the most commonly used coping strategies in the preclinical years compared to the clinical years. Conclusion. We observed that academic-related stressors followed by interpersonal and intrapersonal stressors are the major stressors faced by students. Active coping strategies were the most commonly employed ones rather than avoidant strategies. Stress reduction interventions were recommended.

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ASSOCIATION OF PERCEIVED STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES WITH DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN STUDENTS AT A PRIVATE MEDICAL COLLEGE IN ISLAMABAD

Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal ◽

10.51253/pafmj.v71i5.4770 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 71 (5) ◽

pp. 1676-81

Author(s):

Sawera Mansoor ◽

Nadia Azad ◽

Usama Bin Zubair ◽

Khalid Hayat Khan

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Medical Students ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Perceived Stress ◽

Stress And Coping ◽

Chi Square ◽

Medical College ◽

Brief Cope ◽

Chi Square Test ◽

And Coping

Objective: To determine the association of perceived stress and coping strategies with depressive symptoms in students at a private medical college in Islamabad. Study Design: Correlational study. Place and Duration of Study: Foundation University Medical College, Islamabad, from Jun to Dec 2019. Methodology: Fourth and Final year medical students of Foundation university medical college were enrolled in the study. Beck’s Depression Inventory was used to assess the depressive symptoms, perceived stress scale (PSS) was the tool used to look for the perceived stress and the coping strategies were assessed using the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems experienced (Brief COPE) Inventory. The association of perceived stress and coping strategies with depressive symptoms and other sociodemographic factors was established with the help of the chi-square test. Results: Out of 262 medical students included in the study, 211 (80.5%) had none or mild depressive symptoms while 51 (19.5%) had moderate to severe depressive symptoms. Sixty-six (25.2%) had low stress, 127 (48.4%) had moderate stress while 69 (26.3%) reported high stress levels. Pearson chi-square test revealed that perceived stress and the coping strategies used including self-distraction, active coping, denial, substance use, behavioural disengagement, positive reframing, acceptance, religion/spirituality and self-blaming had a statistically significant relationship with the presence of depressive symptoms among the target population. Conclusion: Considerable number of medical students had the presence of moderate to severe depressive symptoms in our study. Perceived stress and some specific kinds of coping strategies had a significant association with the presence of depressive symptoms among the target.......

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