Abstract

Background: Medical students are the future doctors who are the primary caregivers for the society. High level of stress can obstruct the learning of medical students by impairing their concentration, problem solving, and decision-making skills. Improving mental well-being of medical students will ensure community safety. The stakeholders need to realize positive role of mental well-being on academic performance of students. This will not only benefit the students as well as the society as a whole.

Aim and Objective: The present study was innovatively planned to determine the impact of the motivational sessions on relieving perceived stress and anxiety of the students along-with impact of such sessions on motivation for learning.

Materials and Methods: An interventional cross-sectional study was designed for 2nd year MBBS students. A module comprising of eight sessions for improving mental well-being of undergraduate students was designed by an interprofessional team comprising a medical teacher, clinical phycologist, psychiatrist, and medical students. The pre-validated scales used were Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) to assess anxiety level, Perceived Stress Scale to assess perceived stress, and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire to measure the types of learning strategies and academic motivation of college students.

Results: About 64% (n = 46) of the participants were male and 36% (n = 26) were female students. The present study showed no significant association between the gender and stress. It was seen that number of students with high perceived stress before the session were reduced by as much as 72.41% and that of students with highest motivation for learning strategies doubled from 18 to 36 (100% improvement).The difference in means of HAM-A scores in post-test and pre-tests is highly significant (P = 0.01). The students were very much satisfied with the mode and content of the module. They expressed that these sessions made them feel thought of and cared for.

Conclusion: It is strongly recommended to apply this interprofessional interventional approach to improve the mental well-being of medical students for better academic performances.

Key words: Interprofessional; Perceived Stress Scale; Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire; Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale; Medical Students; Mental Well-being