Depression, Anxiety and Stress using Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scoring System (DASS-21) Among the Students of Women Medical and Dental College Abbottabad, Pakistan

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of stress, anxiety, and depression among medical students using DASS21 scoring system. Study Design: Cross sectional survey. Place and Duration of Study: Women Medical and Dental College Abbottabad from 1 February 2023 to 31 July 2023. Materials and Methods: A sample, containing 140 students, was included in the study after receiving ethical approval from the medical college. Twenty-eight medical students each from the first year to the fifth year were contacted by using simple random sampling technique and were each given a Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The questionnaire used in this study had two parts: a sociodemographic one that asked students about their age, year of study, relationship with family, health status, time they spent on social media, personalities, socioeconomic class, academic performance, and DASS scale, the second part of the questionnaire.The data was analyzed using the IBM SPSS (version 26.0, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: Anxiety was found in 85% of students (17% mild, 31% moderate, 15% severe, and 22% extremely severe). A total of 52% of students reported having depression (15% mild, 19% moderate, 11% severe, and 7% extremely severe). Forty-two percent of the medical students were stressed (15% mild, 12% moderate, 13% severe, and 2% extremely severe). Conclusion: A high occurrence of anxiety, followed by depression and stress, was found among medical students, affecting their academic performance and social well-being.

Keywords

• anxiety
• depression
• medical education
• student's mental health
• stress.