CHRONIC STRESS IN MEDICAL STUDENTS

Abstract

The prevalence and impact of chronic stress on the world's population are quite important. In the modern world, students have to deal with many stressors, and the medical students stand out with the highest stress level. The main causes of stress are academic overload, fear of failure, financial problems, high expectations from others, and many more.             Aim: To study indicators of chronic stress among Tbilisi State Medical University (TSMU) students. Materials and Methods. We conducted survey of the TSMU students using the Student Stress Inventory in Georgian and English. Total number of questions was 51 with 40 items in 4 subscales: physical factors, interpersonal relationships, academic activities, and environmental factors. Students were asked to rate how often these events happened in their lives. Stress level was determined based on the summary points. The total number of respondents was 193, 69.95% women, 29.50% men; Faculty of Medicine (English) 23.32%, Faculty of Medicine (Georgian) 56.48%, Faculty of Public Health 20.21%, the mean age 22.45±1.3 years.             Results. Among physical components of chronic stress, the majority of interviewed students reported having the feeling of constant fatigue 54.92% and sleep problems 43.00% often and very often. In the domain of personal relationships, 64.25% of the total number of interviewees believe that parents want success for them. Among the academic factors, students reported stress caused by exams at 53.37%. Among the environmental factors, the majority - 62.17% of respondents mentioned the hot weather.             Conclusion. In general, psychological symptoms are more pronounced among students than physical ones. The overall prevalence of moderate and severe chronic stress among medical university students is 60.62% (Georgians 63.27%, foreigners 51.11%). Most of the female students (63.70%) have moderate stress, while most of the male students (56.14%) have mild stress. Students of the Faculty of Medicine reported higher levels of stress than Public Health students. Obtained results are in line with the international data. It is desirable to conduct the qualitative study as well in order to find more information on the causes of the stress.