title: Environmental and perceived stress in Australian dental undergraduates: Preliminary outcomes.
abstract: Background.Dental students have reported a high prevalence of psychological stress and the causes are associated with the challenging dental environmental and demographic factors. This study aimed to conduct a preliminary investigation on dental students' stress status, using a sample of first-to-third-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery students in an Australian university. Special interests included causes of dental environmental stress and access to help services.Methods.A sample of 145 students was surveyed with a modified Dental Environmental Survey and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale in 2014. The participants' demographic information was also collected.Results.The response rate was 95.4%. Second-year (P = 0.042), third-year (P < 0.001) and employed students (P = 0.027) were more likely to report stress resulting from transition to clinical learning. Third-year students were more often stressed about communicating and approaching staff (P = 0.023) as well as different opinions between staff (P < 0.001) and reduced holidays (P < 0.001). Students that were younger than 21 years of age (P = 0.001), that were first years (P < 0.001), and that were not in a relationship (P = 0.010) more often found difficulty of course work stressful. Students who were not in a relationship more often considered learning manual dexterity a source of stress (P = 0.034). Students previously seeking professional help were more likely to be stressed (P = 0.010).Conclusion.Causes of dental environment stress varied among years of study and demographic backgrounds. Professional support to stressed students should be enhanced. Further investigation is indicated.
authors.affiliation: Westfund Health, Mackay, Australia.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Astill
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia.
authors.forename: Nikelle
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ricketts
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia.
authors.forename: Love-Amrit
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia.
authors.forename: Dylan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kurtz
authors.affiliation: Eden Dental Surgery, Eden, Australia.
authors.forename: Yong Hoon
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Gim
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry and Health Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Orange, Australia.
authors.forename: Boyen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Huang
keywords: Dental environmental stress; dental education; dental students; perceived stress