Stressors in First Year Medical Students and Its Relation to Academic Performance

Aims: Objectives are to find out the prevalence of academic related stress in first-year medical students of Government Medical College, Kollam and to find out the relation if any, between stress and academic performance.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: Government Medical College, Kollam, for a period of 3 months starting from November 2017 to January 2018.

Methodology: Medical students' stressor questionnaire was given to first-year MBBS students one week after completion of a first sessional examination. Data analysed on stress score and relation to marks of each student.

Results: Out of 100 students, 88 students gave back the completed questionnaire in the given stipulated time, with a response rate of 88%. Everyone was having stress with 11.4% having mild to moderate stress and rest 88.6% having severe stress. There was no relation between stress and academic performance.

Conclusion: Prevalence of stress in first-year medical students is very high, with a significant number having a high level of stress. There was no statistically significant association between stress and academic performance.