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Medical Students’ Stress, Psychological Morbidity, and Coping Strategies: a Cross-Sectional Study from Pakistan

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Abstract

Objective

The authors studied the prevalence of psychological morbidity, sources and severity of stresses, as well as coping strategies in Pakistani medical students.

Methods

Medical students in Lahore, Pakistan, completed a cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire in 2013 on the sources and severity of various stressors. The General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) and Brief COPE assessed the psychological morbidity and coping strategies.

Results

Out of 1500 students, 527 responded to the survey. The prevalence of psychological morbidity was 23.3 %; 52.3 % respondents showed evidence of distress. By logistic regression analysis, GHQ-12 caseness was associated with being male and occurrence of health-related stressors. The most common stressors were related to academic concerns. Coping strategies showed variation by GHQ-caseness.

Conclusion

The significant psychological morbidity and distress warrants establishing support systems to support students and bringing about evidence-based changes to teaching and evaluation systems. Adequate counseling facilities should be made available and students encouraged to seek help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. King Edward Medical University/Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan

    Nazish Imran, Khaula Fatima Tariq & Muhammad Ijaz Pervez

  2. Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan

    Masood Jawaid

  3. Fatima Memorial College of Medicine and Dentistry, Lahore, Pakistan

    Imran Ijaz Haider

Authors
  1. Nazish Imran
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  2. Khaula Fatima Tariq
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  3. Muhammad Ijaz Pervez
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  4. Masood Jawaid
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  5. Imran Ijaz Haider
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Correspondence to Nazish Imran.

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Imran, N., Tariq, K.F., Pervez, M.I. et al. Medical Students’ Stress, Psychological Morbidity, and Coping Strategies: a Cross-Sectional Study from Pakistan. Acad Psychiatry 40, 92–96 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-015-0413-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-015-0413-y

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