Assessment of Stress Load and Its Causes Among Medical Students

oleh: Wojciech Marchewka, Urszula Samborska, Krzysztof Drojewski, Katarzyna Olszewska-Turek, Jakub Marchewka, Grzegorz Kopeć

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Univeristy of Physical Education in Krakow 2022-09-01

Deskripsi

Introduction: Medical students experience stress related to their education and to their general existence. The main factors leading to stressful stimuli are: difficulties adapting to medical school, exposure to death and human suffering, educational debt, personal life events, overworking and burnout, working with cadavers, and lack of time for relaxation.Study aim: Thus, the primary aim of this study was to assess the stress level among medical students. Secondarily, we aimed to determine the most significant stressors and identify the most vulnerable students.Materials and methods: A total of 1,321 students from all 6years of the medical undergraduate studies at Jagiellonian University Medical College were enrolled into the study, including 768 female and 553 male respondents. The overall response rate was 94%. To assess stress factors, we used 2 validated questionnaires: the Perceived Stress Scale and the Perceived Medical School Stress Instrument.Results: We found that medical students are exposed to significant stress, both associated with their course of study and of a more general nature, involving personal problems, behaviour and ways of coping. We also observed that female medical students were significantly more stressed than males. Moreover,2nd- and 6th-year students, and those who were paying tuition, were more susceptible to stress.Conclusions: These findings allow to suggest that support services should be made widely-available to all medical students.