Current Status of the Mental Health of Dental Students during Clinical Clerkship

Abstract

 Abstract The stress status of dental students was investigated during clinical clerkship to clarify how the attributes (e.g., gender and experience of repeating a year) of dental students and the performance during clinical clerkship influenced stress responses. The subjects were 101 fifth-year students of the School of Dentistry, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido in 2016 and 2017. Their stress responses were measured using the Japanese short version of the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ28) before beginning clinical clerkship, during clinical clerkship (at six months), and at the end of clinical clerkship. Their performance was determined using the numbers of treated patients, absenteeism and the scores of mini-exams. A self-reported survey was conducted regarding nine stressors using a visual analogue scale (VAS). As a result, the stress responses remained the same irrespective of the period, although female students before clerkship showed significantly higher values for “depressive tendency” than male students, and those with experience of repeating a year had significantly higher total GHQ28 scores than those without at all periods. The stressors showed different scores depending on gender and experience of repeating a year, suggesting their involvement in the stress responses at each period. In addition, the performance during clerkship was correlated with the total GHQ28 scores. Of note, the number of treated patients was correlated with the stress responses among students without experience of repeating a year and female students at six months of clerkship. Thus, dental students showed different stress responses during clerkship depending on their attributes and the performances during clerkship.