الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Stress is the biological reaction to any adverse internal or external stimuli. Prolonged stress can lower the human performance and lead to negative health consequences and burnout. This study was conducted with an overall aim to determine the perceived sources of stress, and reporting the coping mechanisms used by undergraduate dental student in Aden University.
A cross-sectional design was carried out during fall 2014 and spring 2015 academic semesters, using a self administered questionnaire (modified version of the Dental Environment Stress questionnaire) among second to fifth year bachelor students of dental faculty at University of Aden – Republic of Yemen. After data collection and entry into computer software and the reliability test showed a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.87.
The total number of students who responded to the questionnaire of this study was 315 students, representing a response rate of 78.16%. In general, moderate or severe stress was related to faculty relations stressors (68.1%) more than other stress areas. Followed by academic performance stressors (62.6%) and clinical factors stressors (66.0%). Stress items related to personal factors and life issues were the least reported to induce moderate or severe stress, with overall mean percentages of 44.4% and 26.8%, respectively.
In regard to the rank of stress areas, the first rank moderate or severe stress inducers among dental students in Aden Dental College were clinical factors stressors (60.0%), followed by academic performance stressors (20.0%), faculty relation stressors (10%) and personal factors stressors (10%).
The first five ranked stressors were ”difficulties to get suitable patient (95.6%)”, ”inadequate resources available in the clinic (87.8%)”, ”your expectation of dental college are not very much like what you imagined them to be (85.7%)”, ”examination and grade (81.9%)” and ”having a lecture, clinical or laboratory session immediately before an exam on its scheduled day (79.4%)”. Dental students in the clinical academic years were exposed to moderate or severe stress more than those in the pre-clinical academic years.
The common consequences of moderate or severe stress among the studied dental students were fatigue or tiredness, eye strain, mood alteration, sleep disturbance, and affecting performance. The commonly used coping mechanisms were praying or spiritual activity (95.0% among males and 84.7% among females), followed by watching movies at home or at the cinema, communication with friends, family support, physical activity and meditation. Cigarettes smoking and chewing Qat were coping mechanisms for male more than female students.
The study concluded that dental students in Aden University are in need for support and guidance especially those students showing the signs or symptoms of severe stress and recommended to reconsider the existing educational system with a shift towards a more student-centered curriculum, with increasing the number of training settings and clinical facilities and decreasing the number of the newly admitted students to the Dental Faculty.