Stress in dental undergraduate students: A cross-sectional study

Background: Dental schools are highly demanding and students are exposed to different stress factors which affect their academic performance. Identification of the potential sources of stress is important in the dental education programme, as it gives opportunity to take various measures to prevent stress in the dental school environment. The aim of this study was to examine the perceived stressors in dental undergraduate students studying at a private institution in a metro city. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted among 176 third and fourth year students, interns and externs of a dental school who gave written voluntary consent. The instrument used to record stress was a pre-validated questionnaire, i.e., the modified version of the Graduate Dental Environmental Stress scale. Results were recorded on a four point Likert scale. The mean GDES30 score was calculated across the sample and also compared across categories such as gender, year of study and residence using the one way ANOVA test. The questionnaire was divided into various domains such as academic, clinical, patient, faculty, financial, insecurity regarding professional future and personal domains and the stress levels compared across the same. Results: The mean GDES30 score across the sample was 2.44(SD=0.43) corresponding to somewhat stressful on the Likert scale. Significantly higher mean GDES30 scores were seen in the domains of insecurity regarding professional future followed by clinical and patient domains. Significantly higher stress levels were seen in females compared to males and interns compared to all other years of study. Conclusion: Moderate stress levels were perceived in the clinical year dental students participating in this study. Regulatory bodies and counsellors should focus on helping students cope with stress, thereby improving the performance of students as well as their quality of life and overall health. Key Words: Occupational stress, Graduate Dental Environmental (GDES) Scale, dental undergraduate students