Resilience and Perceived Stress in Medical under Graduates in a Rural Teaching Hospital in South India

Abstract

Background: Medical students face numerous stressors during their training in the field of health sciences which are unique and which cannot be overlooked. Fostering resilience can help individuals to better counteract the negative effects of stress. But little is known about medical under graduates resilience and its relationship to stress. Aims: To study the levels of resilience and perceived stress in medical under graduates. Materials and Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, 533 medical students were surveyed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale. Results: Majority of the medical students showed high resilience and high stress scores. When the combination of resilience and stress was observed significant percentage of the medical under graduates were observed to score low in resilience and high on stress. Second year students were high on resilience and resilience scores tend to decrease with advancing age. Conclusion: Medical students should be provided with the resources and opportunity to become more aware of and indentify the stress faced in the professional training. Strong emphasis is made on interventions to better manage the stress and enhance resilience.