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Open Access
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · European Journal of General Dentistry 2013; 2(03): 300-307
DOI: 10.4103/2278-9626.116020
Original Article

Perceived sources of stress among Malaysian dental students

Authors

  • Lahari Ajay Telang

    Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Penang International Dental College, Penang, Malaysia

  • Jayashri Tamanna Nerali

    1   Department of Oral Pathology, Penang International Dental College, Penang, Malaysia

  • Ajay Telang

    1   Department of Oral Pathology, Penang International Dental College, Penang, Malaysia

  • Pishipati Vinayak Kalyan Chakravarthy

    2   Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Penang International Dental College, Penang, Malaysia
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Abstract

Objective: Dental student training is known to be stressful and associated with physical and psychological distress, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the stress provoking factors among students performing clinical tasks in a Malaysian Dental School. Materials and Methods: A modified dental environment stress questionnaire was distributed to 179 Bachelor of Dental Surgery students during the clinical years 3-5 and their responses are analyzed. Results: The most stress provoking factor was found to be "fear of failing the course or year" (72%) followed by "fear of facing parents after failure" (46%). The least stress provoking factors were related to personal issues such as personal physical health (48%) and lack of home atmosphere in living quarters (40%). Female students were found to be more stressful than the male students and financial responsibilities provoked only moderate amount of stress among many of the students. There was a significant difference in the overall stress levels perceived by students belonging to 3rd, 4th, and 5th year of study. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that with the advent of newer teaching modalities, a more student friendly environment can be created so that detrimental consequences of stress can be reduced.

Keywords

Dental students - education - stress


Publication History

Article published online:
01 November 2021

© 2013. European Journal of General Dentistry. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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