Perceived stress among undergraduate medical students and its association with learning strategies and academic performance in Medical College Kolkata, India

Background: Stress is an inevitable and important part of being a medical student. Present study explores perceived stress among undergraduate medical students and the correlation of stress with learning strategies and academic performance. Method: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at Medical College Kolkata, India. The target population was undergraduate medical students from phase II and III. Participants’ learning strategies was measured using the modified Approaches to Learning Medicine (mALM) questionnaire. The stress level of the students was determined by Perceived stress Scale (PSS ۱۰). Academic performance was measured in terms of percentages scored in the last MBBS examination. Data were analysed using SPSS version ۲۱. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for categorical variables and measures of central tendency and dispersion was calculated for continuous variables. Differences of mean were tested by independent samples t-test. Correlation was tested by Pearson correlation test. Results: There were ۱۳۶ students enrolled in the study; and ۱۲۹ (۹۴.۸%) students scored above ۶۰% in their last MBBS examination. Mean PSS score of the participants was ۱۹.۴± ۴.۱۷. One hundred and twenty-three (۹۰.۴%) students were found to have moderate stress. Deep learning approach was significantly more for MBBS Phase III students (p=۰.۰۰۳). However, perceived stress had no significant correlation with either learning strategy (p=۰.۹۱۶) or academic performance of students (p=۰.۳۰۹). Conclusion: Perceived stress was found to be high among undergraduate medical students in the present study. However, any particular learning style or academic performance was not found to be associated with stress.

Keywords:

Correlation of Data , Learning , Medical education