Mental Health and Sleep: Assessing the Link between Perceived Stress, Depression and Sleep-Quality among Post-graduate Govt. Medical College Students

Description

Deya Bhattacharyya¹ and Payal Banerjee² (Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal¹ and Department of Psychology, Adamas University, West Bengal²)

Perceived stress is one in the company of repeated factor that can affect the mental health of the postgraduate medical students. Perceived stress, depression and deficiency of sleep have increased significantly in recent years. A United Nations report labeled stress as “The 20th Century Disease”. World Health Organization referred to it as “World Wide Pandemic”. The postgraduate medical training environment has always been regarded as highly stressful and extensive for students. The consequences of high level of perceived stress include depression, burnout, anger/irritability, anxiety, poor sleep, and fatigue. The purpose of the current study was to determine how perceived stress and depression affected sleep quality of postgraduate medical students in Kolkata. Data were gathered during April and May of 2024 among 120 postgraduate government medical students (Male=83, Female=37). For this study, Ex-post facto research design was endorsed. The technique of purposive sampling was used. A Google Form was used to assist in accumulating the data. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) by Cohen (1988), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) by Beck (1961), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) by Buysse and his associates (1989). It was also found that the relationship between perceived stress and depression was significant at 0.01 level. Two-way ANOVA was used and a significant interaction effect was found between perceived stress and depression on sleep quality significant at 0.05 level. This research would be in promoting a positive lifestyle among health professionals and would suggest ways to handle perceived stress and depression so that there could be fewer cases of sleeplessness.