Effect of Stress on Academic Performance of Undergraduate Medical Students

Abstract

Medical students experience stress during their academic years. This stress is related to issues including, financial issues, health problems, social issues and academic difficulties. Stress can either negatively or positively influence academic achievement, the aim of this study is to explore the relationship between stress and academic performance of medical students and identify sources of stress effecting academic performance.All the medical students of undergraduate third year at Sheikh Zayed Medical College, Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan, were invited to participate in the study. Medical Student Stressor Questionnaire (MSSQ) was used for the assessment of the effect of stress on academics performance of the students. It consists of 40 items representing the six stressor domains: Academic-related stressors (ARS); Intrapersonal and interpersonal-related stressors (IRS); teaching and learning-related stressors (TLRS); social-related stressors (SRS); drive and desire related stressors (DRS); group activities related stressors (GARS). Cronbach coefficient alpha was calculated to assess the internal consistency of the instrument and for each of the six stressor domains.A total of 200 undergraduate medical students participated in the study. Among them 90(45%) were male and 110(55%) were female. All domains of MSSQ are reliable showing Cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.7. Female students showed higher level of stress than males before and after exams. The major source of stress experienced by students was related to academics (2.78), followed by teaching and learning (1.88), while the domain derive and desire domain caused minimum stress to students (1.30).Undergraduate medical students experience considerable stress in their third year. Academic related factors are the major cause of stress in students. It is important that students should be counseling and trained to manage stress effectively otherwise it can adversely influence their health and academic performance.