Assessment of Negative Emotional States of Depression, Anxiety And Stress Among First MBBS Students - A Cross Sectional Study

Background and Introduction:Modern lifestyle is full of expectations, struggle, deadlines and frustrations. Medical students all around the world face huge stress during graduation period. Hence, we wanted to evaluate the degree of depression, anxiety and stress among first year MBBS students of a private Institute of Madhya Pradesh, India. Aims and Objectives: 1. To assess and quantify the level of depression, anxiety and stress among first MBBS students and study its relationship with gender. 2.To find out the difference in DASS (Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale) scores during stressed and relaxed state. Material and Methods:This cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 first MBBS students in a private medical college, in Indore. A standard questionnaire-DASS 21(Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale) was administered to these students twice; first during relaxed state i.e. two weeks before exams & later in stressed state on the day of exam.Results:A greater number of participants had normal DASS scores during relaxed state as compared to the stressed state. The severity of symptoms was moderate in depression subscale, severe in anxietysubscale & mild in stress subscale both in relaxed & stressed state. Therewas a significant difference between total DASS scores in relaxed versus stressed state(p<0.01); scores lower during relaxed state as compared to the stressed state. We could only find a significant correlation between anxiety and gender;anxiety in males being higher as compared to females.Conclusion: The level of depression, anxiety and stress is less in relaxed state as compared to the stressed state. The perception of depression and stress by DASS score is similar in both the genders, but we found a difference in the level of anxiety, being more in males. There is a need for routine screening of depression, anxiety and stress among medical students for early detection and better management.