A study on depression, anxiety, stress, and life quality among medical aspirants and medical students of Aligarh City in North India

摘要

Background and Aim: Rapid intellectual and psychosocial development occurs mainly during young adulthood. Coincidently, decisions regarding collegiate and professions are taken during this period. Thus, adulthood is vulnerable to psychological disorders. Contrary to most other professions, medical education is more likely to affect mental health. The present explicates the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among premedical and medical students of Aligarh city, and various coping mechanisms they adopt to mitigate above symptoms. Assessment on students' quality of life (QOL) has also been made. Materials and Methods: The study sample (220) consisted of 11 th and 12 th pursuing and 12 th passed students preparing for medical entrance examinations and those pursuing the medical course. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. The method of online survey was questionnaire through Google forms. Study lasted for 3 months. We used Depression Anxiety Stress Scale and World Health Organization QOL (WHOQOL)-BREF (QOL assessment scale developed by WHO) questionnaires. Results: Our study suggests that levels of extremely severe anxiety (37.7%) and depression (20%) were relatively higher than stress (10.9%) in the respondents. The Pearson's Chi-square alpha and the P value indicated that depression, stress and anxiety were quite gender centric. We also found significantly higher levels of depression, stress, and anxiety in 11 th , 12 th pursuing, 12 th passed students preparing for medical entrance, final professional (Part 2) students, and interns. Furthermore, physical domain of QOL score showed strong negative correlation with depression, stress, and anxiety. Conclusion: The present study found that depression, stress, and anxiety are present among medical as well as premedical students. It is a matter of concern, as the conditions may severely affect the health as well as the performance of students.