Perceived Stress Among Dental Students In Private College, Chennai – An Institutional Study

Stress can be defined as any event that upsets the organism and causes physical, psychological or emotional strain. Stress may usually cause behavioural problems. Stress is common among the undergraduates and postgraduates since they are expected to absorb and get lots of knowledge, attitudes and skills which in turn subject them to a lot of stress. As a result, a study was done to find out how much stress dental students at a private dental school were thought to be under. The survey was conducted among 100 dental students. Using online surveys using Google Forms, questionnaires were created and given to the pupils. The collected information and replies were loaded into an excel spreadsheet, and SPSS software was used to statistically analyse the findings. In descriptive statistics, frequency and percentage were used to convey the data. To determine if two variables were associated, the Chi-Square test was utilised. A total of 100 dental students participated in the study. In the perceived stress scale, 37% of the study participants said that in the last month, they have almost never been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly. 35% of the study participants said that in the last month, they have almost never been able to control irritations in their life. Females were comparatively more confident in handling personal problems than males (6% vs 0%) and this was found to be statistically significant. (p value- 0.03) This present study thus concluded that the perceived stress was lesser among the study participants. Females were less stressed when compared to males. Regarding the year of study, there is no discernible change in the stress levels of pupils.