Perceived Stress and Stressors among Undergraduate Medical Students of a Nigerian Institution

AimTo identity stressors and measure the intensity of stress perceived by clinical students in a Nigerian institution.MethodsThis study was cross-sectional fifth sixth-year medical using 40-item Medical Student Stressor Questionnaire(MSSQ). Students marked their responses to each 40 questions on Likert scale ranging from-causing no at all (0) tocausing severe (4)ResultsThe median scores for six domains were as follows: Academic related stressor (ARS)- 2.1, Teaching Learning relatedstress (TLRS)-1.29, Desire (DRS)- 1.00, Group activities (GARS)- Social (SRS)– 0.83, Interpersonal (IRS)- 0.57. Overall, ARS cause high-level 51.6%, stressin 7.8% students. Specifically, ‘Heavy workload’ ‘large amount content be learnt’ caused 45.3% 40.6%of respectively. Skipping meals frequent associated with high IRS, SRS GRS domains.ConclusionAcademic high-severe among considerable proportion studied, while interpersonalrelated mild stress. workload’, ‘Tests/Examinations’, ‘lack time review what has been are somemajor identified. Universities need prioritise accessibility healthy meals, improved students’ living environment, provisionof psychological support formal training management other soft skills, reduce promote better academicperformance. There may curriculum relevance over breadth content.