Introduction. The present study was undertaken to explore dental students’ depression, anxiety and stress status, being also aimed at conducting a preliminary investigation on the associations of some elements of educational environment (such as relations with peers, faculty, and patients) with the respective psychological status of dentistry students. Materials and methods. A self-reported questionnaire was administered to a convenient sample of seventy 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th year students at the Medical University-Sofia (MUS), Faculty of Dental Medicine, between April and May 2022. It included items regarding students’ demographic characteristics, academic factors, and the validated DASS-21 scale. Results and discussion. A total of 67 dental students provided duly completed questionnaires (response rate 95.7%). Alarmingly high abnormal prevalence of anxiety (65.7%), stress (59.7%), and depression (34.3%) were identified. Most of the respondents (95.5%) demonstrated satisfaction with peer relationships. However, no statistically significant associations with depression (p=0.109), anxiety (p=0.966), and stress (p=0.311) were found. Almost a third (32.8%) reported dissatisfaction and having most of the time stressful and incomplete relations with supervisors or clinical professors. Distribution of depression, anxiety, and stress across this academic factor showed significant differences, p<0.05. Half of the surveyed students (50.7%) reported problems in fulfilling clinical requirements, significantly associated with the levels of depression (p=0.012). Respondents’ stressful relations with patients were also found significantly associated with the levels of depression (p<0.001), anxiety (p<0.05), and stress (p=0.016). Conclusions. These findings indicate that support programs should be provided to the most susceptible groups to foster dental school’s climate. There is also a need to modify current dental curriculum that should focus on behavioral sciences and courses for communication and interpersonal skills, to ensure better relationships with the faculty and patients.
Keywords:- academic environment
- DASS-21
- DENTAL EDUCATION
- interpersonal relations
- undergraduate students