Psychological stress and health in undergraduate dental students: fifth year outcomes compared with first year baseline results from five European dental schools

Abstract

Psychological stress in undergraduate dental students: fifth year outcomes compared with first year baseline results from five European dental schools.Objective: To compare the levels of a series of health-related indicators from a cohort of fifth year dental students from five European schools with their first year scores, and to investigate the relationship between these follow-up measures.Methods: Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), consisting of three scales: Emotional Exhaustion (EE, a = 0.90), Depersonalisation (a = 0.80) and Personal Accomplishment (a = 0.72). Physical health was measured by the Physical Symptoms Questionnaire (a = 0.82), psychological distress was measured using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ, a = 0.89) and student stress was captured using seven subscales of the Dental Environment Stress questionnaire (DES, a = 0.92). A total of 132 fifth year students responded from five dental schools (Manchester, Belfast, Cork, Helsinki and Amsterdam), a 51% response.Results: Fifth year students showed relatively high mean MBI scores when compared with first year results, especially on EE; 39% could be labelled 'high scorers'; 44% of the students met the criteria for 'cases' on the GHQ. Highest mean scores on the DES were obtained on the subscales: Study Obligations, Patient-Related Aspects and Study Pressure respectively. Between schools interesting differences were detected on all variables. As hypothesised, a clear direct effect of stress on both burnout and physical symptoms was shown. An indirect effect of stress on mental health via burnout was shown.Conclusions: Dental students showed a negative development through the years from first to fifth year with regard to EE and psychological distress. Both burnout constructs related to physical and mental health. It is recommended that dental faculty focus on the importance of prevention and intervention of stress amongst undergraduates.

Common mental disorders and associated factors among final-year healthcare students

“…[31][32][33] Students of medicine, dentistry and nursing represent a population with high educational level that is constantly exposed to this inhospitable environment, which may predispose them to a higher risk of developing common mental disorder. 9,14,16 Due to the workload of study and training that these courses require, students are also more inclined to develop burnout syndrome. 9,32,[34][35][36] Despite the high prevalence of CMD among the students assessed, only a small percentage (10.5%) had any mental trouble diagnosed by a psychiatrist.…”

“…9,14,16 Due to the workload of study and training that these courses require, students are also more inclined to develop burnout syndrome. 9,32,[34][35][36] Despite the high prevalence of CMD among the students assessed, only a small percentage (10.5%) had any mental trouble diagnosed by a psychiatrist. In the same way, in a universe of 7,357 students from 36 medical schools of South Korea, 689 students presented depression and, out of these, only 9.7% were diagnosed and submitted to psychiatric treatment.…”

“…In the last year of the undergraduate program, emotional exhaustion becomes more evident and ends up predisposing the students to common mental disorder. 3,[6][7][8][9][10][11] We know from the literature that the prevalence of common mental disorder in industrialized countries ranges from 7 to 30%. 4 Similar studies drawn from the Brazilian population, showed that this prevalence varied from 22 to 35%.…”

Perceived stressors of oral hygiene students in the dental environment

“…[4,5] Stressors identified include the learning environment, fear of failure, heavy workload, difficulty in dealing with patients, performing non-reversible procedures in a confined space, difficulty in dealing with transitions in curricula and difficult relationships with academic staff. Gorter et al [11] suggested that stress among dental students has been reported at length and that it would currently be more useful to focus on interventions to address this concern. Long-term exposure to stress in the learning and working environment may result in burnout, [23] also referred to as a syndrome found among professionals doing 'service work' .…”

“…Stress among students in various disciplines in the health sciences is well documented. [1,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] However, the literature on stressors among students and qualified dental hygienists is sparse. [7,14,[20][21][22] Sources of environmental stress among dental students have been identified and quantified by means of the Dental Environment Stress (DES) questionnaire.…”