Introduction: Dentistry is considered as a highly demanding and stress oriented profession. Elevated stress levels due to prolonged workload may precipitate fatigue declining student performance. The aim of the present study was to assess the Perceived sources of stress among first year dental undergraduate students at a private institution in India and to investigate whether specific stressors were related to age and gender.

Materials and Methods: It was a Descriptive, Epidemiological, Institution based Cross-sectional study. A modified dental environment stress (DES) questionnaire was administered to 84 First year dental students to assess the levels of stress.

Results: The first major stressor for all students was lack of time for relaxation with a mean score of 2.35 (SD 0.85) followed by examination and grades,  Lack of time to do assigned college work, Full working day, Late ending time and Fear of unable to catch up if getting behind the work. Amongst the six highest stressors in each year, four were Workload related. There was a significant difference in stress perception in the “Other” category between genders with a predilection for males. In the category “Self Efficacy beliefs”, the stress perception of students from Nuclear family was significantly greater than that of Joint family. (p<0.05)

Conclusion: The primary sources of stress as perceived by 84 students at one private dental school in India were increased workload and Performance pressure. This study would contribute to enhance students’ stress-bearing skills and help in deciding future course of action through counselling and psychiatric support systems.

Keywords: First year BDS students, Questionnaire based study, Modified Dental Environment Stress (DES) Questionnaire.

1. Ross S, Cleland J, Macleod MJ. Stress, debt and undergraduate medical student performance. Med Educ 2006;40:584-9
2. Qamar K, Khan NS, Bashir Kiani MR. Factors associated with stress among medical students. J Pak Med Assoc. 2015;65(7):753- 5
3. Sanders A, Lushington K. Sources of stress for Australian dental students. J Dent Educ1999; 63 (9): 688–697
4. Gangwar A, Kiran U. Occupational Stress among Dentists. Int J Sci Res. 2016;4(7):28-30
5. Oleribe OO, Ukwedeh O, Burstow NJ, Gomaa AI, Sonderup MW, Cook N, Waked I, Spearman W, Taylor-Robinson SD. Health: redefined. Pan Afr Med J. 2018;30:292.
6. Singh G, Hankins M, Weinman JA. Does medical school cause health anxiety and worry in medical students? Med Educ 2004;38:479-81.
7. Wilkinson TJ, Gill DJ, Fitzjohn J, Palmer CL, Mulder RT. The impact on students of adverse experiences during medical school. Med Teach 2006;28:129-35.
8. Supe AN. A study of stress in medical students at Seth G.S. Medical college. J Postgrad Med 1998;44:1-6
9. Naidu RS, Adams JS, Simeon D, Persad S. Sources of stress and psychological disturbance among dental students in the West Indias. J Dent Educ 2002;66:1021-30.
10. Chilukuri H, Bachali S, Naidu NJ, Basha AS, Selvam SV. Perceived stress amongst medical and dental students. AP J Psychol Med 2012;13:104-7.
11. Kodumuri PK, Thomas C, Singh PA, Rathod S. Evaluation of perceived stress and its source among dental students-a cross sectional study. J Evol Med Dent Sci 2016;5:3425-8.
12. Coats, R. H. (1931). Enumeration and Sampling in the Field of the Census. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 26(175), 270–284.
13. Kumar, S., Dagli, R. J., Mathur, A., Jain, M., Prabu, D., & Kulkarni, S. (2009). Perceived sources of stress amongst Indian dental students. European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe, 13(1), 39–45.
14. Mane AB,Krishnakumar MK, Paul NC, Shashidhar HG. Differences in perceived stress and its correlates among students in professional courses. J Clin Diagn Res 2011;5:1228-33.
15. Sekhon TS, Grewal S, Gambhir RS, Sharma S. Perceived sources of stress among dental college students: An Indian perspective. European J Gen Dent. 2015;4(3):121-26.
16. Ishaque MY, Farid H, Yasmeen S. Perceived causes of stress among dental undergraduates at army medical college, Rawal¬pindi. Pak Oral Dental J. 2015;35(1):7-9.
17. Westerman GH, Grandy TG, Ocanto RA, Erskine CG. Perceived sources of stress in the dental school environment. J Dent Educ 1993: 57: 225–231.
18. Acharya S. Factors affecting stress among Indian dental students. J Dent Educ 2003: 67: 1140–1148.
19. Faisal SA, Ahmed ZA, Shahid M et al. An Analysis of “Stress Factors” among Dental Students, 2022, PREPRINT (Version 1)
20. Lamis DR. Perceived sources of stress among dental students at the University of Jordan. J Dent Educ 2001;65:232-41

Dr Mandrita Chatterjee

Assistant Professor (Grade I), Physiology, Dr B C Roy Multi Speciality Medical Research Centre, IIT Kharagpur, India