Identifying stressors in medical education: A study in a women’s medical college in Maharashtra: A cross-sectional study

Medical education is inherently stressful due to its rigorous curriculum, long training hours, and high expectations placed on students. Female students pursuing the MBBS program may encounter additional gender-specific challenges that further increase stress levels. This exploratory cross-sectional study was conducted in an all-women’s medical college and tertiary care hospital using a questionnaire specifically developed and validated for this study. A total of 484 female medical students across all years of the course participated. The instrument assessed stress across four domains: Academic, Social, Personal, and Gender-specific. The total mean personal stress score was 391.75, representing the largest contribution to the overall stress score. Mean stress scores per student were 2.24 (First Year MBBS), 2.63 (Second Year MBBS), 2.66 (Third Year MBBS), and 2.70 (Final Year MBBS), indicating that Final Year students experienced the highest stress levels. Most students (45.04%) reported high stress, while 30.99% reported severe stress, with stress levels increasing progressively with each year of study. All four stressor domains were significantly correlated with each other, the total stress score, and overall stress level (p = 0.000). Personal domain stressors contributed most to the overall stress. Within the academic domain, less time for self-study (p = 0.000) and attendance targets (p = 0.000) were identified as the strongest predictors of stress.