Assessment of Anxiety Symptoms among Medical and Paramedical Students

Anxiety is an unpleasant feeling in the case of uncontrollable or unwanted events. Going to university and facing with new situations may cause anxiety in many students and especially in medical or paramedical students because of their stressful working environment. These problems may be more serious among female students. Anxiety may impair learning and working function. So, in this article we have evaluated the anxiety level among medical and paramedical students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. One hundred and fifty female medical and paramedical students were evaluated by Spielberger anxiety scale. Those with positive history of stressors such as a serious physical or mental disease, divorce, death of related person or other unpleasant events were excluded from our study so the sample volume finally was reduced to 136 students. Among medical students, 46 were intern and 46 were externs and 44 were paramedical students. 76.6% were single and 32.4% were married. Moderate to severe level of anxiety was reported in 45.6% of interns, 36.9% of externs and 20.5% of paramedical students, while trait anxiety was observed in 43.5% of interns, 32.6% of externs and 20.5% of paramedical students. Level of anxiety in paramedical students was significantly lower than medical students. Excluding marriage status as an interventional factor, the difference in severe anxiety was diminished, but trait anxiety was still more prevalent among medical students. Medical students are at risk for anxiety disorders and need a special attention in this field.