The Difference of Anxiety and Depression Levels among Preclinical Medical

Students at Faculty of Medicine Yarsi University

Camelia Farahdila Musaad1*, Zwasta Pribadi Mahardika2

1Student of Faculty of Medicine, YARSI University
2Centre of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, YARSI University
*Correspondence: E-mail: cameliamusaad@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Anxiety is a pathological condition characterized by extreme fears accompanied by

somatic signs and symptoms that reflect a hyperactive autonomic nervous system. On the
other hand, the term depression refers to a mood disorder manifested by several
psychological components, including sadness, worry, hopelessness and despair;
biological or somatic components such as anorexia, constipation, and cold sweating.
Anxiety and depression often occur among medical students in their preclinical years.
This study aimed to investigate whether differences exist among preclinical students at
Faculty of Medicine Yarsi University in regard to their status of anxiety and depression.
Preclinical students refer to those undergraduate medical students who study basic
medical knowledge prior to clinical exposure where the limited study period could be the
most important stressor. Moreover, a high number of assignments and responsibilities
could also sum up the stressors that predispose to various psychological disorders,
particularly anxiety and depression. On January 2017, a comparative analytical study was
conducted using cross-sectional design. The data were collected using questionnaires that
were spread over the 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-year medical students. DASS 42
(Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale) was used for data collection. Statistical analysis
was done using Kruskal Wallis test with significance level of p = 0.05. The results showed
that 70 (59.3%) and 47 (39.2%) students experienced anxiety and depression,
respectively. The third year medical students tended to be more anxious and depressive
compared to the second and fourth year students, accounted for a total of 15.9% and
23.3% students experienced anxiety and depression, respectively. Statistical analysis
using Kruskal Wallis test resulted in the p-value of 0.025 for anxiety indicating that there
was significant difference of the occurrence of anxiety among medical students. In
contrast, the results showed p-value of 0.218 for depression that indicated no significant
difference regarding depression status. The authors concluded that there was a tendency
towards different status of anxiety and depression among the second, third, and fourth
medical students.

Keywords: Anxiety, Depression, Preclinical study, Academic Stage