Volume : 7, Issue : 4, April - 2018

A Study to assess the prevalence of Depression, Anxiety and Stress among Undergraduate Medical Students across the State of Maharashtra, India

Dr. Heena H Merchant, Alhad A Mulkalwar, Dr. Ajita S Nayak

Abstract :

<p class="Default"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:&#10;10.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:Calii">Background</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:Calii">:</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;background:white"> Considerable degree and severity of psychological morbidity has been reported among medical students and they tend to have greater psychological distress than the general population. </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">Presence of psychological morbidity in undergraduate medical students has been reported from various countries across the. However there are very few Indian studies documenting the same and even lesser studies aiming at understanding the causes.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Default"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Objectives:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:Calii"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">&nbsp; </span>To determine the prevalence and severity of Depression, Anxiety and Stress among undergraduate medical students across medical colleges in Maharashtra and identify the causative factors responsible for the same so that suitable preventive measures can be suggested to tackle them.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:&#10;none;text-autospace:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10.0pt;&#10;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-fareast-font-family:Calii">Methods:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;&#10;mso-fareast-font-family:Calii"> Observational, Cross-Sectional, Online Questionnaire Based Study was conducted with a sample of 1300 undergraduate medical students.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;&#10;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"> The data obtained was entered using Microsoft Excel 2013 and analyzed using SPSS 16.0 Software. The Pearson chi square correlation test was used to find out the association of the personal and socio-demographic factors with the levels of depression, anxiety and stress amongst the respondents.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:&#10;none;text-autospace:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&#10;&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Results:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;mso-ansi-language:&#10;EN-US"> Amongst the total respondents, the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was found to be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">54.64%</b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">66.11%</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:&#10;normal">34.46%</b> respectively. Many factors were found to have a statistically significant correlation with these levels of psychological illnesses. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Default"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Interpretation and Conclusion: </span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:&#10;Calii">There is a very high prevalence and intensity of depression, anxiety and stress among undergraduate medical students which needs to be looked into and effectively dealt with on an urgent basis. The strong association of these levels with many of the socio-demographic and personal characteristics of the students will help us highlight the factors responsible for them and suggest strategies to deal with them effectively at a personal and institutional level.<o:p></o:p></span></p>