A study on stress, stressors and coping strategies among Malaysian medical students.

Abstract

<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>As the prevalence of stress is rising rapidly among the community, it is important to understand their stressors and coping strategies for creating a psychological-friendly environment for the students in the future. The study aim was to explore the stress level, stressors, and coping strategies among first year medical students in Malaysian public universities and factors contributed to the stress at the end of year. <strong>Methodology: </strong>A multicenter cross-sectional study involving four Malaysian public universities. The 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Medical Student Stressor Questionnaire (MSSQ) and Brief COPE inventory were self-administered to measure stress level, sources of stress and coping strategies respectively among the participants. Calculated sample size was 387. <strong>Results: </strong>Out of 387 selected participants, 359 (92.7%) responded to this survey. This study found that the prevalence of distressed first year medical students at the end of year was 50%. The major stressors across the universities were academic-related issues. The top five coping strategies were religion, active coping, positive reinterpretation, acceptance and planning. University, parent income, and academic, group activities, and desire related stressors were significant factors contributing to the students&rsquo; stress (p-value &lt; 0.05). <strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study found that there was a high prevalence of distressed among first year medical students at the end of year, the major stressors were related to academic and contributing factors of stress were related to university, coping strategy, types of stressor and parent income status. Training first year medical students on adaptive coping strategies, managing stressors, and improving peer-group supports to the students will help to improve this condition.</p

Assessing Stress among Undergraduate Pharmacy Students in University of Malaya

“…18 Studies have shown that students with low socio-economic status and therefore low income have higher stress levels. 28,36 However, we did not find parents' monthly income to be associated with students' stress levels. This was probably due to the fact that most of the students were on scholarships and thus were able to support their living expenses independent of their parents' monthly income.…”

“…This suggests those students' stress levels were not constant throughout the year but that students experienced higher stress at the time where assignments and examinations are near. 28 The association between stress and gender in the literature are contradictory. Several studies do not find the relationship 1,15 while other studies show significant association between the two variables.…”

Emotional exhaustion is associated with work related stressors: a cross-sectional multicenter study in Malaysian public hospitals

“…These results reveal similar to those obtained in previous studies. 21,24,34 Although prospective evidence on the impact of organizational contextual stressors of emotional exhaustion in pediatricians is scarce, studies in other medical specialties corroborate the impact of effort-reward imbalance on burnout. 28 Regardless of recent salary adjustments, 24 imbalanced remuneration, lack of incentives, promotion and appreciation from supervisors remained significant factors associated with emotional exhaustion in this, as in previous similar studies.…”

El agotamiento emocional está asociado con factores estresantes relacionados con el trabajo: Estudio multicéntrico y transversal en hospitales públicos de Malasia

“…Estos resultados son similares a los obtenidos en estudios anteriores. 21,24,34 Aunque existen pocas pruebas prospectivas del efecto que los factores estresantes del contexto institucional tienen sobre el agotamiento emocional de los pediatras, los estudios realizados en otras especialidades médicas corroboran que el desequilibrio entre el esfuerzo y la recompensa tienen un impacto en el burnout. 28 Independientemente de los últimos ajustes en los salarios, 24 la desproporción en las remuneraciones y la falta de incentivos, promociones y reconocimiento de parte de los supervisores continúan siendo factores importantes asociados con el agotamiento emocional, tanto en este estudio como en estudios similares anteriores.…”