Evaluation of stressors in various dentistry departments in Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in the academic year of 2015-2016: A cross-sectional study

Dental students are exposed to various stressors which are related to treatment procedures and educational and administrative challenges in different clinical departments. Stress has negative effects on dental students’ physical and mental health. No study to date has been conducted on stressors in different dental departments independently, so the aim of this study was to determine the most important stressors among dental students in various dentistry departments at Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.

This descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study was carried out on 117 fifth and sixth-year dental students at School of Dentistry, Kerman University of Medical Sciences. In this respect, the most important stressors were separately investigated based on 11 clinical departments and 5 domains of school and administrative factors, work environment, patient treatment, clinical training, and workload using a researcher-made questionnaire. Data were analyzed with SPSS software using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Friedman test.

The highest mean scores for stressors were in the departments of surgery, endodontics, and pediatric dentistry and in the domain of patient treatment. In all departments, there were significant differences in 5 domains(P < 0.05). In all departments, except pathology, the lowest stressors’ score was in domain of school and administrative factors; it was patient treatment in pathology department. The highest stressors’ score was seen in surgery department and in patient treatment and workload domains.

Considering that the types of stressors in each department were different, much more attention must be paid to manage specific stressors.