Abstract

Background: Stress is actually the wear and tear that our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it affects both physically and emotionally. When students appraise their education as a challenge, stress can bring them a sense of competence and enhance the learning process. When education is seen as a threat by the student, stress can elicit feelings of helplessness and leads to poor academic performance.

Aims and Objectives: The study was carried out to assess the level of stress and anxiety experienced by the 1st year undergraduate medical students and to find out the sources of stress in these students and also to assess their stress coping mechanism.

Materials and Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study carried on the 1st year MBBS students. After the approval of ethical committee, stress was measured by asking students to rate each item of medical student stressor questionnaire. The scoring method was assigned marks from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Anxiety was measured using Westside Test Anxiety Scale by assigning a value of 1 (not at all/never true) to 5 (extremely/always true).

Results: It was found that there was a statistical difference between males and females. The stress in female participants was highly significant than male participants (P < 0.05). There was a statistical difference in weight of female and male participants (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference seen in the anxiety score in male and female participants.

Conclusion: The present study showed that the stress among the 1st year undergraduate medical students was highly prevalent and the stress among female participants was significantly more than the male participants. There was no significant difference in male and female participants in the anxiety score.

Key words: Stress; Anxiety; Academic; Medical Students