Journal of Islamic International Medical College (Dec 2021)
Depression, Anxiety and Stress in Low and High Achieving Medical Students
Abstract
Objective: To compare the levels of depression, anxiety and stress between low and high achieving medical students. Study Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study Place and Duration of Study: This research was carried out in Islamic International Medical College, Pakistan,from 11 May to 30 December 2018. nd rd th th Materials and Methods: The study sample comprised of 160 medical students of 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 year MBBS classes. Sampling was done by using purposive sampling technique. For comparison, the students were distributed in two groups depending upon their scores in recent professional examination. Low scoring group comprised of 20 students from each class, who scored lowest marks in the recent professional examination and were placed at the bottom of result sheet, while high scoring group comprised of those 20 students who were placed at the top of result sheet in the same class. Demographic data was obtained on a printed form and the depression anxiety stress scale (DASS-21) was used to record clinical variables. Statistical package for social sciences version 20(SPSS-20) was used for analysis of data. Paired sample T-test was used to find the difference in the mean scores of clinical variables between two groups. Results: The mean score for stress, anxiety and depression was 10.4, 16 and 15 respectively in low achievers. While the high achievers mean scores were 6.2, 8.7 and 9 on these variables respectively, with p-value below 0.05. The results revealed relatively high psychological morbidity in low achieving medical students. Conclusion: The level of depression, anxiety and stress is found to be higher in low scoring students as compared to high scoring medical students.