Professional Stress, Sleep Quality and Coping in Post-Graduate Medical Students

Sleep quality and coping mechanisms used are important predictors of professional stress in post-graduate medical students.

To study professional stress, quality of sleep, coping mechanisms in post-graduate medical students and relationshipbetween these factors in them.

A cross-sectional study that included 150 postgraduate medical students of various faculties from a tertiary care teaching municipal institute.

Included subjectswere assessed using Professional life stress scale, Pittsburg sleep quality index (PSQI) and Mechanisms of coping scale.

Software used was SPSS-19.Data were analysed using Pearson's bivariate correlation, multiple regressions with forward-enter method and unpaired t-test according to applicability.

62% reported moderate to high stress; 41.33% had significant sleep disturbance. The most affected factor was sleep duration. Positive correlation was seen between poor sleep quality (increased scores ofPSQI) and professional stress. Commonest coping mechanism was problem solving and least common was fatalism. Fatalism was a significant predictor of increased professional stress and poor sleep quality. Problem solving was a significantpredictor ofquality of sleep. There was no significant difference in medical and surgical students on scales for stress, sleep quality and use of coping mechanisms.

Sleep quality is an important predictor of professional stress. Coping mechanisms also affect residents by altering the way of perceiving and reacting to stressful events, and also by affecting sleep quality.