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

Volume : VII, Issue : IV, 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 :

Background: 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. 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.

Objectives: 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.

Methods: Observational, Cross-Sectional, Online Questionnaire Based Study was conducted with a sample of 1300 undergraduate medical students. 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.

Results: Amongst the total respondents, the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was found to be 54.64%, 66.11% and 34.46% respectively. Many factors were found to have a statistically significant correlation with these levels of psychological illnesses.

Interpretation and Conclusion: 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.