Abstract
Background: Medical School has been reported by students as being a stressful experience. Purpose: This study addressed the issue of how two radically different curricula affect the stress experienced by medical students. Methods: Students in the final cohort of a conventional lecture-based undergraduate curriculum were compared with students in the first cohort of a new problem-based curriculum, at the end of their 1st year. The responses of students in both groups were compared on a 27-item stressor checklist. Results: The results showed that the ranks of stressors were highly correlated between both curricula. Seven of the top 10 stressors (and the top three stressors) were identical for both groups. There were differences between curricula in the relative frequency of stressors marked. Conclusions: Curriculum differences in 1st-year medical school may not necessarily cause differences in the overall pattern of stressors, although frequency of some stressors may be significantly different.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 188-194 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Teaching and Learning in Medicine |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1996 |
| Externally published | Yes |