A comparative study on stress, anxiety, and depression amongst medical and nursing students in a Nigerian private university.

Abstract

This study compared the stress, anxiety and depression level reported by medical and nursing students in the first two years of their clinical training (i.e medical students in 4^th and 5^th year; Nursing students in the 3^rd and 4^th year). Descriptive research design was employed and the sample size of 102 was calculated by G power 3.1 using the difference between two independent means (two groups).

A total of 51 medical and 51 nursing students studying at Bowen University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso were randomly recruited. Depression, Anxiety and Stress questionnaire (DASS 21) was adopted for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out. Medical students reported higher mild depression (78.5%) and mild anxiety (82.4%) but lower mild stress (64.7%) compared with Nursing students viz. mild depression (68.6%), mild anxiety (76.5%) and mild stress (72.5%). Students older than 20 years experienced more depression (t=-3.51, p=0.001), anxiety (t=-3.625, p=0.000) and were more stressed (t=-7.86, p=0.000) compared to those less than 20 years. Also male students are more anxious (t=2.01, p=0.04) and more stressed (t=2.26, p=0.03) compared with female students. Students who had never repeat a course were more depressed (t=2.30, p=0.000), more anxious (t=-5.320, p= 0.000) and more stressed (t=4.904, p=0.000) than those who had repeated a course. Though not significant, medical students are more anxious and depressed than nursing students and nursing students are more stressed than medical students. Age and gender of the students affected the level of stress, depression and anxiety. Therefore, medical and nursing students should be taught on coping strategies to sustain their mental health.