Biomedical Research

Purpose: To assess the level of stress, the sources of stress and the spread of depression among students of ''nurse'' specialty Medical University-Plovdiv.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey in 2017, featuring 60 freshman and 40-students from ''nurse'' specialty in the third course. The relationship between the variables is assessed using chi-square test with a significance level of p<0.05. The statistical analysis in the survey includes descriptive statistic (average value and standard deviation), chi-square test for evaluation of the correlations between the stress-level and depression and demographic dates (correlations coefficient of Pearson and Kendal) and t-test (Welch two sample t-test).

Results: Moderate to very severe stress is observed in 78.4% of the surveyed students. Depressive symptoms were also 54.7% of respondents (mild depression in 41.7%, moderate in 11.5%, severe in 1.4%). There is no significant difference in depression between the first and third-course nurses (p=0.1613) and in men and women (p=0.85).

Conclusion: Academic-related stressors are a major cause of stress to students in the both courses. We recommend the conducting of further surveys on stress and depression in all specialties of medical universities in Bulgaria and the implementation of programs for managing stress.

Author(s): Okean Kostov, Diana Paskaleva, Stoilka Tufkova, Maria Bozhkova, Boris Kuzmanov
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