Background:The occurrence of stress and stress related anxiety and depression in medical personnel are being increasingly reported in literature. The perceived stress scale (PSS) is the most widely used psychological instrument for measuring the perception of stress. It is needed to assess perceived stress in our population using appropriately translated version of PSS. The objectives of study were to prepare a Bengali version of PSS-10 and to establish its psychometric properties in the study population.Materials and Methods:The study was conducted in a teaching hospital among medical students and interns (N=37). The translated Bengali version and the original English version of PSS-10 were separately handed over to the individual subjects. The scores were compared across different subgroups and psychometric properties of the translated version were assessed using SPSS 16.Results:Internal consistency of PSS English (α=0.79) and Bengali (α=0.80) was satisfactory. Intra-rater reliability was adequate (κ>0.5) for most of the items, but showed an inadequate value (κ<0.5) for four items on the scale. After deleting these four items from the Bengali version, a new six-item PSS in Bengali was derived that showed good internal consistency (α=0.699).Conclusion:This new version needs to be validated in a larger study population. Perceived stress score using PSS-10 was considerably high in our study population, although there was no significant difference between the subgroups (male/female, intern/student).

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Background : The aims of this current study were to prepare and validate a Bengali questionnaire to assess knowledge and attitude of adolescents about the various mental health issues related to them, and to conduct a pilot study with this questionnaire.Method : It was a cross sectional study conducted on adolescent school girls (N=l07, 12 to 18years age) from rural background of West Bengal. A 13 item Bengali questionnaire was constructed, validated and administered on the subjects. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS (16th version).Results: Most of the items had good test re-test reliability. Mean age of the population was 13.09 years. Three knowledge based questions had more correct responses (50.5%, 52.3%, 50.5%) and one had 72% incorrect responses. Majority of the subjects recognised problem behaviours, expressed an helping attitude, tended to seek help from parents, and thought sharing worries with others and spending time with friends could make them happy.Conclusions : This questionnaire appears reliable to assess knowledge and attitude of adolescent girls. There is need to inform adolescents about various mental health issues. Attitude to help and a sense of cohesion was conspicuous in this population. A larger and more inclusive study needed to generalize the findings.

Background:The aims of this current study were to prepare and validate a Bengali questionnaire to assess knowledge and attitude of adolescents about the various mental health issues related to them, and to conduct a pilot study with this questionnaire.Method: It was a cross sectional study conducted on adolescent school girls (N=107, 12 to 18years age) from rural background of West Bengal. A 13 item Bengali questionnaire was constructed, validated and administered on the subjects. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS (16th version).Results: Most of the items had good test re-test reliability. Mean age of the population was 13.09 years. Three knowledgebased questions had more correct responses (50.5%, 52.3%, 50.5%) and one had 72% incorrect responses. Majority of the subjects recognised problem behaviours, expressed a helping attitude, tended to seek help from parents, and thought sharing worries with others and spending time with friends could make them happy. Conclusions:This questionnaire appears reliable to assess knowledge and attitude of adolescent girls. There is need to inform adolescents about various mental health issues. Attitude to help and a sense of cohesion was conspicuous in this population. A larger and more inclusive study needed to generalize the findings.