Prevalence and Associated Factors of Stress upon Online Study among Mae Fah Luang University Preclinical Year Medical and Dental Students during COVID-19 Pandemic
Keywords:
Stress, COVID-19, Medical and Dental studentsAbstract
Background: Stress is common among medical and dental students in usual circumstance. As COVID-19 pandemic had great impact on higher education. Classes attending at the universities has also been altered, including introduction of online classes and examinations. Medical and dental students who regularly were stressed due to their exhausting curriculums might have been affected by this pandemic as well.
Objective: This study aimed to study stress in medical and dental students in preclinical year as a consequence of the lockdown from Covid-19 and its associated factors. Methods: The study was conducted from 31st July to 15th August 2020 as a cross-sectional descriptive study which collected data via online questionnaires. The online questionnaires consist of 3 parts; demographic data, factors associated with stress from literature review and ST-5 (a stress assessment questionnaire). The measurement of association was analyzed by multivariable logistic regression.
Results: This study got data from 129 respondents in preclinical year of medical and dental students of Mae Fah Lung University with average age of 20.5 years. 53 (41.1%) of the respondents old are stressed. Prevalence of stress was found to be 41.5% in medical students and 58.5% in dental students. Factors associated with stress from multivariable logistic regression analysis were inappropriate or unfacilitated location for studying (p-value = 0.001), feeling isolated or lonely (p-value = 0.001) and daily life changes (p-value = 0.001).
Conclusion: Prevalence of Preclinical year stress is 41.5% in medical students and 58.5% in dental students after COVID-19 lockdown. Factors associated with stress from the study can be categorized into 3 categories: educational-related factors, learner-related factors and other physical-related factors.
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