Comparison of stress, anxiety, depression, and coping between medical and engineering students

Abstract

Background: The various studies globally emphasized that the students from professional courses are subjected to a higher level of stress, anxiety, depression, and suicides. Objectives: The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence's of stress, anxiety, and depression among medical and engineering students; to assess the source of stressors and coping strategies among them and to determine the association of anxiety and depression between both the fields of students with stress. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 319 students from medical and engineering colleges. They were assessed using semi-structured data; depression, anxiety and stress scale-21; coping inventory for stressful situations-21 and sources of academic stress among students. Results: The levels of stress, anxiety, and depression among medical students were found to be 37.27%, 73.37%, and 60.94%, respectively, while that among engineering students were 29.3%, 78%, and 59.3%, respectively. There was significant difference between medical and engineering students, who fall under the category of stress on the basis of age, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, and satisfaction with the academic performance (P < 0.05). The significant differences were also observed between both the fields of students with anxiety and depression (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The stress, anxiety, and depression levels were found to be high among both the groups of students. Academic factors were main source of stressors and both the field of students adopted task-oriented coping strategy a little more to deal with their stressors. Thus, professional students should be provided with appropriate counseling and stress relieving activities to improve quality of life.

Keywords

• anxiety
• coping strategy
• depression
• engineering students
• medical students
• stress