Study of perceived stress among I MBBS medical students

Lately there is lot of increased concern about stress during undergraduate medical training. However, studies about the same from Indian medical schools are limited. The objective of the study was to assess perceived stress. A cross-sectional, questionnaire?based survey was carried out among 1st MBBS students of B J Govt. Medical College, Pune. A 14-item questionnaire: perceived stress scale (PSS) was used to assess the stress perceived by the students. Mean PSS score in the study population (n=150) was 24.91(SD 7.31, that in female students (n=83) was 24.78 (SD 7.61) while the same for male students (n =67) was 25.07 (SD 6.97). Thus in the study, medical students reported a higher level of perceived stress. However, there is no significant difference found between sex nor among hostelers & day scholars groups and neither among the students from rural & urban background for the perceived stress score. The students have shown a higher level of perceived stress by using the PSS-14 scale. This calls for further assessment of severity as well as depth of problem and intervention to take remedial measures to improve medical education.