Assessment of Dental Students’ Stress Level Using the Validated Pss-14 Questionnaire

Abstract

Introduction: Stress is an important factor affecting education and clinical practice of dental students.  The purpose of the present study was to assess stress levels of dental students using the validated PSS-14 questionnaire in Iran.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2024 using stratified non-random sampling method on Iranian undergraduate dental students. Following ethical clearance, the concurrent validity of the DASS-21 and the PSS-14 questionnaires was assessed on a sample of dental students.  The Persian version of the PSS-14 questionnaire in addition to demographic characteristics, history of COVID-19 vaccination status and systemic disease in student/family member was used for data collection electronically. Data was analyzed using SPSS ver. 26.0, descriptive and analytical analysis performed (p < 0.05).

Results: In the first phase, 211 subjects responded and the concurrent validity was confirmed (r = 0.621, p < 0.001). In the second phase, 420 students replied 53.1% were female (n = 223) and 46.9% were male (n = 197), with a mean age of 23.5 (SD = 2.7) years. The mean stress score of the respondents was 26.7± 8.1 out of 56 (female: 43.14 (SD = 7.90) and male: 38.18 (SD = 7.54). There was a significant association between stress level and being female (B = -0.344, p = 0.000), having lower Grade Point Average (GPA) (B = -0.136, p = 0.008), having systemic disease in students’ family (B = 0.158, p = 0.001), and studying in Type I universities (B = -0.105, p = 0.036).

Conclusion: PSS-14 and DASS-21 questionnaires exhibited high concurrent validity. In the post-COVID-19 era, stress levels were modest among dental students in Iran. There is a need for stress management training, especially for high-risk students.