The stress of clinical dental training: A cross-sectional survey among dental students and dentists of a dental college in India

Psychological disturbances in clinical dental students and teachers remain largely unknown. Aim: To describe the psychological health of clinical dental students and their trainers in an institution in India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among clinical dental students and faculty of an Indian dental college in November 2014. The questionnaire consisted of depression anxiety stress scales-21 (DASS 21), a short version of the original 42-item DASS. Data were compiled on SPSS version 21. Group comparisons were done and P values were obtained. All tests were two-tailed with significance set at P< 0.05. Results: Stress scores were found to be higher in students as compared to trainers (P = 0.040), with the highest scores for undergraduate students. Statistically, significant difference was seen in stress scores between graduate and postgraduate trainers (P = 0.015), undergraduates and postgraduate trainers (P = 0.005), and postgraduate trainers and students (P = 0.029). A significant difference was also observed between depression scores in graduate and postgraduate trainers (P = 0.006) as well as postgraduate trainers and students (P = 0.041). Females had significantly higher level of stress (P = 0.007) and anxiety (P = 0.003) scores as compared to males. Conclusion: Stress, anxiety, and depression scores in dental students are higher than trainers. Undergraduate students among all showed the highest scores for all three parameters. Different approaches to reduce them should be further investigated and utilized at the earliest