Stress and its relief among undergraduate dental students in a tertiary health care centre in eastern Nepal

Abstract

Background: Dentistry is associated with a number of stressors resulting to depression, anxiety, substance misuse, absenteeism, diminished work efficiency, and burnout. The study was conducted with the objectives to know the prevalence and type of stressors; their consequences stress relievers among the clinical dental students. Methods:It is a descriptive cross-sectional quali tative study carried out using a self-administered questionnaire among the clinical dental students of a college of dental surgery of eastern Nepal. The questionnaire was adapted from the Dental Environmental Stress Questionnaire designed by Westerman et al., and was modified to include several cultural factors appropriate for Nepali students. Students were asked to assess the questionnaire items as "not stressful," "slightly stressful," "moderately stressful," and "severely stressful" on a four-point Lickert scale.Results: When responses were divided into either stressful or not stressful, the preva lence of stress was 100%. Among self-efficacy beliefs, insecurity regarding professional future, (90.0%) atmosphere created by clinical faculty (93.34%), difficulty to get suitable patients (93.34%), fear of sexually transmissible diseases/AIDS/ hepatitis B while working on patients (96.56%), need to find own patients (88.89%) and examinations and grading procedures (96.67%) were the common stressors in different years of study. The two most frequently mentioned consequences of stress during all years were fatigue/tiredness (77.79% to 96.56%) and mood alteration (69.45% to 83.33%). Listening to music was the leading stress reduction method during all academic years (82.76% to 86.67%). Conclusion:The students in all years of study had high prevalence of stress. The most frequently mentioned consequences of stress during all years were fatigue/tiredness and mood alteration. Listening to music was the leading stress reduction tech nique for students in all academic years. A contemporary dental school should address potential stress sources effectively, thus promoting the educational and professional well-being of dental undergraduates.

A cross‐sectional study of stress and its sources among health professional students at Makerere University, Uganda

“…This high response rate is probably due to high individual perception of stress by students thus feeling the need to be actively involved in its identification and management. Results from this study further support available evidence that health professional students are stressed (Sabita Paudel et al., ; Saipanish, ; Salam et al., ). In this study, more than half (57.4%) of the respondents were stressed.…”

“…Basing on available evidence, it is not surprising that in this present study we found high prevalence rate (57.4%) among health professional students at Makerere University. It is reported that health professional students are stressed more than students from other faculties (Aktekin et al., ) and this stress affects not only their physical but also mental well‐being (Danz et al., ; Dyrbye, Thomas, & Shanafelt, ; Paudel et al., ) which ultimately may affect patient care in future.…”

“…Health professionals’ training has been reported to be stressful (Paudel, Subedi, & Shrestha, ; Sreeramareddy et al., ). Stress is a highly unpleasant state of emotional arousal that humans experience in situations perceived as troublesome or challenging (Khodarahimi, Hashim, & Mohd‐Zaharim, ).…”

“…Health professionals' training has been reported to be stressful (Paudel, Subedi, & Shrestha, 2013;Sreeramareddy et al, 2007).…”

Analysis of Distress among Dental Undergraduates Exposed to A Clinical Scenario

“…Stressors associated with dentistry include time and scheduling pressures, managing uncooperative patients and the highly technical and intensive nature of work. 3 Chronic occupational stress of such kind can result in professional burnout, anxiety and depression. Professional burnout has potent adverse effect.…”