Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Abstract BACKGROUND: Various kinds of stressors and psychological problems have been reported in
the adolescent student population. This study assessed and compared depression, anxiety, and
various coping styles among high school students attending coaching classes for medical entrance
examination (MEE) and those not.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Systemic random sampling technique was used to recruit 400 high
school students with equal number of those attending (Group 1) and those not attending any coaching
class for MEE (Group 2). They underwent screening for depression and anxiety through Patient Health
Questionnaire‑9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7‑item. Coping styles were assessed through
brief COPE inventory. Screening positive subjects were assessed in detail by a psychiatrist using
ICD‑10 (International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision), Diagnostic Criteria for Research (DCR).
The severity of depression and anxiety was measured through HAM‑D and HAM‑A, respectively.
RESULTS: Depression and anxiety were reported by higher proportion of Group 1 (36%) than
Group 2 (22%), χ2 (1) = 9.52; P = 0.002. In both the groups, depressive disorder was the most
common, followed by generalised anxiety–disorder and mixed anxiety–depression. The severity
of depression (HAM‑D score) and anxiety (HAM‑A Score) was significantly more Group 1. “Active
coping” (χ2 = 4.79 P = 0.02) and “Humor”  (χ2 = 30.90, P ≤ 0.01) were more commonly used by
healthy students, while “Religious coping” (χ2 = 37.92 P ≤ 0.01) were the most common among
those diagnosed with depression/anxiety disorder.
CONCLUSION: Higher prevalence of the psychological problems in adolescent school students
preparing for MEE highlights the importance of aptitude assessment, career counseling, and school
mental health program before their exposure to the competitive academic atmosphere.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: It is common among medical students to falsely attribute bodily sensations/symptoms
and holds a belief of having a medical illness with varying level of conviction. We studied and compared
this condition known as “medical student syndrome", a type of hypochondriasis, between preclinical
and clinical years students.
METHODOLOGY: This research was a descriptive study where a total of 100 students were
approached and were asked to complete a short form of health anxiety inventory (SHAI) which
has Cronbach’s alpha 0.855. No personal identifiers were included in the study questionnaires. All
statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software package (IBM SPSS Statistics
Version 23, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
RESULTS: The response rate among participants was 88% (42 from preclinical and 48 from clinical
years of training). Health‑related anxiety (SHAI main section score ≥ 18) was found in 14.77%
of students with a higher proportion in preclinical than clinical, 16.66% and 13.04%, respectively.
The difference was not significant between the two groups (2 = 0.429 [1], P = 0.766). Students
having medical professional in family had lower rate of health‑related anxiety, 2 (1, n = 88) = 0.228,
P = 0.633. The association between family or personal history of psychiatry or medical illness was not
significant with SHAI scores. No relation was noted between current health anxiety (SHAI score) and
the number of visits to the doctor per year before entering the medical course ( = 0.174, P = 0.112).
CONCLUSION: Every seventh medical student was found to have health‑related anxiety. It was not
affected by personal and family history of either psychiatric or medical illness.