Dental Environment Stress Among Iraqi Students: A Qualitative Study

Objective: To determine the degree of psychological stress in undergraduate dental students & explore related gender variation. Methods: 100 5th-year dental students at Al-Rafidain University College (RUC), Iraq, participated in the study by completing The Modified Dental Environment Stress Questionnaire (DES). Results: The primary sources of stress were found to be Completing the clinical requirement, the Atmosphere created by the clinical supervisors, Full working day, Patients being late or not showing up for their appointments, Difficulty in learning precision manual skills required for clinical and laboratory work, examination, and grades & fear of unemployment. The highest score source was (patients being late or not showing), followed by (examination and grades). Regarding gender differences, the (Full working day) was the highest stressor item for the male student’s team, while female students chose (Atmosphere created by clinical supervisors) as their top stressor. Conclusion: The highest perceived sources of stress reported by students should be further explored by longitudinal studies, and strategies to minimize the resulting stress should be developed and implemented since psychological stress in study years of dentistry predicts occupational stress later.