STRESS, STRESSORS, AND COPING STRATEGIES BETWEEN PRE-CLINICAL AND CLINICAL MEDICAL STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN
Keywords:
stress, stressors, coping strategies, medical students, Malaysia
Abstract
Stress in medical education has been inevitable among medical students. However, the prevalence of stress among pre-clinical and clinical medical students differed by year of study. There were several stressors reported to affect medical students. Therefore, effective coping strategies were applied to manage the stress faced by medical students. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of stress, stressors and coping strategies comparing pre-clinical and clinical Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) medical students, and the associated stressors and stress among them. This was a cross-sectional study with a study population of 223 medical students. Universal sampling was used. A self-administered questionnaire which included socio-demographic characteristics, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Medical Students Stressor Questionnaire (MSSQ) and the Brief COPE Inventory were used in this study. The overall prevalence of stress among medical students was 48.15%. Clinical students had a higher prevalence of stress (53.73%) compared to pre-clinical students (39.02%). Year 3 students had the highest prevalence of stress (64.58%) compared to other years of study. Nearly 1 out of 2 medical students were stressed (48.15%). Academic Related Stressor ranked the highest and Acceptance was the most practiced coping strategy. The only associated stressor with stress was Academic Related Stressor.
References
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34. Pickard M, Bates L, Dorian M, et al. Alcohol and drug use in second‐year medical students at the University of Leeds. Medical education. 2000:34 (2):148-50.
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2. Solanky P, Desai B, Kavishwar A, et al. Study of psychological stress among undergraduate medical students of government medical college, Surat. Int J Med Sci Public Health. 2012; 1(2): 38.
3. Salam A, Mahadevan R, Rahman AA, et al. . Stress among First and Third Year Medical Students at University Kebangsaan Malaysia. Pak J Med Sci. 2015; 31(1): 169–173. DOI: 10.12669/pjms.311.6473.
4. Fuad MD, Al-Zurfi BM, AbdulQader MA, et al. Prevalence and risk factors of stress, anxiety and depression among medical students of a private medical University in Malaysia in 2015. Educ Med J. 2015;7.
5. Al-Dubai SAR., Al-Naggar RA, Alshagga MA et al. Stress and Coping Strategies of Students in a Medical Faculty in Malaysia. Malays J Med Sci. 2011; 18(3): 57–64.
6. Abdulghani HM, AlKanhal AA, Mahmoud ES, et al. Stress and its effects on medical students: a cross-sectional study at a college of medicine in Saudi Arabia. J Health Popul Nutr. 2011; 29(5):516.
7. Mane Abhay B, Krishnakumar MK, Niranjan Paul C et al. Differences in perceived stress and its correlates among students in professional courses. J Clin Diagn Res . 2012; 5(6): 1228–1233.
8. Koochaki GM, Charkazi A, Hasanzadeh A, et al. Prevalence of stress among Iranian medical students: a questionnaire survey. East Mediterr Health J. 2011;17(7):593-8.
9. Firth J. Levels and sources of stress in medical students. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1986; 292(6529):1177-80.
10. Johari AB, Hassim IN. Stress and coping strategies among medical students in national university of Malaysia, Malaysia University of Sabah and University Kuala Lumpur Royal College of Medicine Perak. Journal of Community Health. 2009; 15(2):106-15.
11. Salam A, Yousuf R, Bakar SM,et al. Stress among medical students in Malaysia: A systematic review of literatures. Int Med J. 201; 20(6):649-55.
12. McDowell I. Measuring health: a guide to rating scales and questionnaires, 3rd Ed.
New York; Oxford University Press. 2006.
13. Yusoff MS, Yee LY, Wei LH, Siong TC, et al. A study on stress, stressors and coping strategies among Malaysian medical students. International Journal of Students' Research. 2011; 1(2): 45-50.
14. Yusoff MSB, Abdul Rahim AF and Yaacob MJ. The Prevalence of Final Year Medical Students with Depressive Symptoms and Its Contributing Factors. Int Med J. 2011; 18 (4): 305-309.
15. Yusoff MS, Rahim AF, editors. The medical student stressor questionnaire (MSSQ) Manual. Universiti Sains Malaysia; 2010.
16. Eva EO, Islam MZ, Mosaddek AS,et al. Prevalence of stress among medical students: a comparative study between public and private medical schools in Bangladesh. BMC research notes. 2015; 8(1):327.
17. Carver CS. You want to measure coping but your protocol’too long: Consider the brief cope. Int J Behav Med. 1997 ; 4(1):92.
18. Yusoff MS. Associations of pass-fail outcomes with psychological health of first-year medical students in a Malaysian medical school. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2013; 13(1):107.
19. Yusoff MS, Rahim AF, Baba AA, Ismail SB, Pa MN. Prevalence and associated factors of stress, anxiety and depression among prospective medical students. Asian J Psychiatr. 201; 6(2):128-33.
20. Sreeramareddy CT, Shankar PR, Binu VS, et al. Psychological morbidity, sources of stress and coping strategies among undergraduate medical students of Nepal. BMC Med Educ. 2007; 7(1):26.
21. El-Masry R, Ghreiz SM, Helal RM, et al. Perceived stress and burnout among medical students during the clinical period of their education.. Ibnosina J Med Biomed Sci. 2013; 5 (4):179-87.
22. Saipanish R. Stress among medical students in a Thai medical school. Medical teacher. 2003;25 (5):502-6.
23. Supe AN. A study of stress in medical students at Seth GS Medical College. Journal of postgraduate medicine. 1998;44 (1):1.
24. Abdulghani HM, AlKanhal AA, Mahmoud ES,et al. Stress and its effects on medical students: a cross-sectional study at a college of medicine in Saudi Arabia. J Health Popul Nutr . 2011; 29(5):516.
25. Siraj HH, Salam A, Roslan R,et al. Stress and its association with the academic performance of undergraduate fourth year medical students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The International Medical Journal Malaysia. 2014;13 (1):19-24.
26. Masilamani R, Aung MM, Bhagat V, et al. Prevalence of Stress and Associated Stressors among Medical Students: A Comparative Study between a Private and Public Medical School in Malaysia. Res J Pharm Technol. 2018;11 (6):2531-7.
27. Elias H, Ping WS, Abdullah MC. Stress and academic achievement among undergraduate students in Universiti Putra Malaysia. Procedia Soc Behav Sci. 2011 Jan 1;29: 646-55.
28. Gazder DP, Ahmad F, Danish SH. Stressors, Coursework Stress and Coping Strategies among medical students in a private medical school of Karachi, Pakistan. Education in Medicine Journal. 2014; 6(3).
29. Shankar PR, Balasubramanium R, Ramireddy R, et al. Stress and Coping Strategies among Premedical and Undergraduate Basic Science Medical Students in a Caribbean Medical School. Education in Medicine Journal. 2014; 6 (4).
30. Krishnappa K, Singh NP, Jain PK,et al. Medical School and Stress: A Cross-sectional Study of Stress among Medical Students in Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences in district Etawah. Indian J Community Health. 2018;30 (3).
31. Melaku L, Mossie A, Negash A. Stress among medical students and its association with substance use and academic performance. J Biomed Educ. 2015.
32. Wu L, Farquhar J, Ma J, et al. Understanding Singaporean medical students’ stress and coping. Singapore Med J. 2018; 59 (4):172.
33. Goyal P, Upadhyah AA, Pandit DP, et al. A study of stress, stressors, and coping strategies among students of a newly established medical college in South Gujarat. Natl J Physiol Pharm Pharmacol. 2016;6 (6):604-11.
34. Pickard M, Bates L, Dorian M, et al. Alcohol and drug use in second‐year medical students at the University of Leeds. Medical education. 2000:34 (2):148-50.
35. Gomathi KG, Ahmed S, Sreedharan J. Causes of stress and coping strategies adopted by undergraduate health professions students in a university in the United Arab Emirates. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2013;13 (3):437.
36. WHO/EHA. Overview Coping Mechanisms. Emergency health training programme for Africa. Panafrican Emergency Training Centre, Addis Ababa. 1999: 3-13.
Published
2020-05-01
How to Cite
Retneswari Masilamani, Mohammed Abdulrazzaq Jabbar, Chang Swee Liang, Hilary Lim Song You, Lai Jian Kai Jonathan, Woon Pei-Suen, Yeak Xi Yuan, & Yong May Ling. (2020). STRESS, STRESSORS, AND COPING STRATEGIES BETWEEN PRE-CLINICAL AND CLINICAL MEDICAL STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN. Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine, 20(1), 175-183. https://doi.org/10.37268/mjphm/vol.20/no.1/art.503
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Articles
