Predictive Relationship of Perceived Stressors and Mental Health of Medical Students

Abstract

Objective: The objective of current study was to explore the predictive relationship of perceived stressors and its effects on the overall mental health of medical students. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at three private sector medical colleges of Lahore, Pakistan from March 2019 to September 2019. Materials and Methods: For assessment purpose indigenous scale “Perceived Stress Scale for Medical Students (PSSMS)” was used for assessment of stressors and “Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21)” was used to evaluate the depression, anxiety and stress among medical students which gives an overall overview of mental health. The sample of 400 medical students was selected by stratified random sampling from different medical colleges of Lahore. Results: Regression analysis revealed very significant predictive relationship of the total of “Perceived Stress Scale for Medical Students (PSSMS) with Total DASS [F (1, 398) = 77.14, p< .001] and its subscales (Social stressors[F (1, 398) = 60.50, p< .001], Mistrust[F (1, 398) = 31.32, p< .001], Academic stressors[F (1, 398) = 36.50, p< .001] and Burnout[F (1, 398) = 28.45, p< .001]) to the DASS total score and individually on the subscales of depression, anxiety and stress at the level of (p <.001). Conclusion: The current study revealed that medical students are facing different types of stressors nowadays in Pakistan and these all stressors including social stressors, academic stressors, burnout and mistrust issues lead towards the mental health issues like anxiety and depression. How to cite this: Mansoor I, Khan MA, Kubra K. Predictive Relationship of Perceived Stressors and Mental Health of the Medical Students. Life and Science. 2022; 3(3): 127-133. doi: http://doi.org/10.37185/LnS.1.1.218

Keywords

• anxiety, depression, mental health, medical students, stress