Factors contributing to stress and anxiety in undergraduate medical students.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the contextual factors responsible for stress and anxiety in undergraduate medical students. Study Design: Qualitative Study. Setting: Islamic International Medical College, Al Mizan Campus, Riphah University, Rawalpindi. Period: 04^th April 2019 to 03^rd October 2019. Material & Methods: This qualitative exploratory studied was conducted at Islamic International Medical College Rawalpindi from April to October 2019 with the help of semi structured interviews each lasting for about thirty minutes conducted from final year medical students and the data was analyzed to establish the factors responsible for stress in medical students. Results: The study revealed academic and non academic reasons for stress in medical students’ time of graduation. Fear of examinations came at the top of the list of stress causing factors followed by hectic time tables, challenging clinical environment, lack of feedback by clinicians, lack of structured clinical training, non conducive learning environment, time management issues, peer pressure, pressure from parents to achieve academic excellence, less number of leisure hours, lack of sleep and finally the issues of attendance. Conclusion: Majority of final year students experienced stress in their medical life which was due to social factors, academics reasons and non academic issues.