Perceived Stress and Coping Strategies among Medical Students in a Tertiary Institution in Southwest Nigeria

Background: Stress in medical school has become a common phenomenon and studies have shown that students tend to adopt dubious strategies to cope and survive the higher general demands during medical training. This study aimed to determine the level of perceived stress and coping strategies among medical students in Nigeria.

Method: This was a cross-sectional study design carried out among two hundred and eight medical students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology. The Cohen perceived stress scale (PSS) and Brief cope scale were instruments adapted for the study. Data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. Descriptive and analytical statistics were presented as frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. The Chi‑square test determined associations and significant associations at P < 0.05.

Results: In this study we found that 69.6% of the respondent has a low perceived stress level and 30.4% reported a high level of perceived stress. The study showed a statistically significant relationship between monthly income and perceived stress (p-value = 0.046). Religion (3.01±0.93), Positive reframing (2.89±0.81), self-distraction (2.82±0.81), acceptance (2.81±0.86) and planning (2.60±0.86) among others, were the common coping strategies observed.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated a high level of perceived stress among medical students and especially in the 2nd and 4th year of their medical training, more among female students, and a significant association was found between stress and monthly allowances.