Assessing Stress among Undergraduate Pharmacy Students in University of Malaya

Health care students, particularly pharmacy students, are believed to experience a higher level of stress as compared to their age-matched peers. This cross-sectional study determined the sources and predictors of stress among 273 undergraduate pharmacy students at a Malaysian public university using the Derogatis Stress Profile instrument. The response rate was 100%. Pearson's correlation was used to examine the association between Grade Point Average (GPA) and stress levels. Paired and Independent t-tests as well as ANOVAs were used to compare the mean stress scores on various variables. Our findings showed that these students did not demonstrate significantly higher levels of stress than the general population, even though their perceived stress levels were significantly higher (mean = 53.55 +/- 7.87; p< 0.001). The most frequently reported stress was related to academic matters. Additionally, there was a weak, statistically significant negative correlation between stress level and GPA (r = -0.159, p = 0.009) indicating that as stress levels increases, students' GPA decreases. Second year students were found to be the most stressed although stress levels were not statistically different among students across the various academic years. Thus, targeted interventions such as redesigning the curricula may be an effective way of alleviating stress to provide a favourable learning environment for pharmacy students.