Abstract

Background: Medical course is a difficult study requiring hard work, commitment, and maturity unlike other professional courses. Medical students are found to be under mild to severe psychological stress. The institutions in India are not sufficiently equipped with necessary stress coping mechanisms or facilities.

Objective: To assess the magnitude and causes of stress among first-year medical students in a medical college.

Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out from September 2014 to August 2015 at Siddhartha Medical College of Andhra Pradesh, India; 150 medical students who had joined the course newly were provided orientation program. After a period of 8 months, the students were given a self-administered questionnaire adapted from the General Health Questionnaire (28 items). The data obtained were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS, version 16.

Result: About 78% of the respondents were stressed. Girls (44.7%) perceived greater stress when compared with boys (33.33%); the difference being statistically significant. Large content to be learnt, poor performance in examination, lack of time to revise, and no time for recreational/relaxational activities were found to be the major causes of stress among the students.

Conclusion: A substantial proportion of students were found to be stressed, with academic stressors being the major cause of stress among the subjects.

Key words: Stress, medical students, general health questionnaire, relaxational activities