article · Psychiatry Journal
A cross-sectional survey evaluated academic stress and related mental health factors among 422 regular students attending governmental and non-governmental health science colleges in Debre Birhan, Ethiopia. Using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales assessment, the investigation identified an overall stress prevalence of 4.1 per cent. Although stress levels appeared relatively low, depression and anxiety were considerably more common, affecting 19.7 per cent and 23.6 per cent of the surveyed students, respectively. Significant statistical associations with student stress included sex, fear of examinations, living in an uncomfortable environment, and perceived current illness. The findings suggest that higher education institutions should implement proactive management strategies, including routine screening tools and targeted support mechanisms, to address student mental health concerns before they escalate into more severe psychological difficulties.
Unmanaged psychological distress among healthcare students can impair academic achievement and result in serious long-term conditions such as chronic depression or anxiety. Understanding the specific factors that trigger student distress helps educational administrators design timely interventions. Establishing targeted wellness initiatives and comfortable learning conditions ensures that future healthcare professionals maintain their well-being throughout rigorous training programmes.
The abstract highlights a need for simple screening tools and institutional support programmes to detect and mitigate student distress. This suggests potential demand among college administrations for mental health assessment instruments and student welfare software solutions. However, this is observational research rather than a product evaluation, meaning any practical deployment or commercial development of specific diagnostic tools remains at an early conceptual stage.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
BACKGROUND: Stress is very common among medical students across the globe with the prevalence of 80%. In Ethiopia, the prevalence is 47.7% among college students. Unless it is managed early, it leads to deterioration of academic performance and overall dissatisfaction with life and different serious health problems including anxiety, depression, and suicide. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of academic related stress among Debre Birhan governmental and nongovernmental health science college regular students 2015/16. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 422 health science students selected by stratified proportional random sampling at Debre Birhan governmental and nongovernmental health science colleges in North Shewa zone, Amhara region, Ethiopia in 2016. Data was collected using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scaling (DASS-21). The level of significance of association for multivariable was determined at P value <0.05. RESULT: Prevalence of stress among Debre Birhan governmental and nongovernmental health science college regular students is 4.1%. There is a significant association between stress and sex AOR = 8.525 (1.023, 71.077), fear of examination AOR = 5.096 (1.183, 21.96), living in uncomfortable environment AOR = 14.86 (3.84, 57.515), and perceived present illness AOR = .030 (0.003, 0.286). Depression and anxiety were also seen among 19.7% and 23.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: According to this study, the prevalence of stress among governmental and nongovernmental health science college regular students is not high. However, depression and anxiety were found to be higher than stress and they need immediate management plan. Colleges had better prepared simple screening tool and support students to prevent stress before they cause severe mental health problems.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.1155/2018/7534937
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
