Perceived stress and sources of stress among first-year medical undergraduate students in a private medical college – Tamil Nadu

Background: Medical education throughout the world poses the incoming student with many challenging situations and demands. This forms an ideal environment for the student to be under stress as he/she adapts to these stress-inducing conditions. Factors both psychosocial and otherwise, vary widely between institutions of learning, the demographic studied, the external influences of the environment/country, and the stage of learning of the student, among other factors. Aims and Objective: To assess the prevalence of stress among first-year medical undergraduate students and to segregate the potential stressors derived from the study. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving the first-year medical students. Prevalence of stress was assessed using Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), which is an internationally validated 10-item questionnaire. The effect of potential stressors was assessed using a 33-item questionnaire. The stressors were categorized as academic, psychosocial, and health-related. Result: Of the 147 respondents, the mean PSS score was 21.09 (SD: 4.7). Of them, 105 students (71.4%) reported moderate stress, 16 students (10.9%) had high stress, and 26 students (17.7%) reported low/no stress. The top five stressors were all academic or psychosocial stressors. Conclusion: The vast majority of students perceived moderate stress and analysis highlighted a greater association with academic factors compounded by psychosocial ones. Preventive mental health measures on the basis of this and further studies into the occurrences of stress in the early academic years of a medical professional, followed by effective management tools and programs could go a long way in counteracting the harmful long-term effects of stress on their careers, producing happier and more productive and efficient medical professionals.