Purpose Medical students experience various stresses that arise in a special environment. However, there is no specific stress scale for medical students with regard to their environment in Korea. Therefore, in this study, we developed and confirmed the validity of a stress scale for medical students in Korea.
Methods A draft version of the scale was developed on the basis of open-ended questionnaires from 97 medical students. The validity of the content of this scale was evaluated by three medical educationists. The scale was administered to 435 third and fourth grade medical students as the main survey. For our data, we performed an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. We used Cronbach α index to determine internal consistency.
Results Six factors with 40 items were extracted through the exploratory factor analysis: academic stress (9 items); clerkship stress (11 items); interpersonal stress (7 items); career stress (8 items); health-related stress (3 items); and financial stress (2 items). These factors showed a statistically significant correlation. The confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a favorable RMSEA (0.053) and reasonable fit (CFI=0.847, TLI=0.833). Cronbach α values of the six factors ranged from 0.63 to 0.85.
Conclusion The medical student stress scale had a good model fit. It is a valid and reliable instrument in identifying stress in medical students and can be used in future studies. Also, the scale is expected to provide individual stress profiles for students to help them manage stress more effectively.
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METHODS A total of 1,508 medical students in Korean medical schools or colleges answered a self-assessment survey of medical professionalism elements from 2005 to 2012 that we developed. The survey consisted of core 31 attributes on a 5-point Likert scale. Factor analysis was performed using SPSS version 20.0 and AMOS version 20.0.
RESULTS Exploratory factor analysis revealed six factors with total variance of 59.56%. The factors were termed 'empathy and accountability,' 'self-development skills,' 'academic competence,' 'interpersonal skills,' 'high intelligence,' and 'attitude towards oneself and life.' These factors showed statistically significant correlation (0.310~0.663). From the confirmatory factor analysis a six-factor model were appropriate (CFI=0.873, TLI=0.853, RMSEA=0.065). Cronbach-alpha of six factors ranged from 0.718 to 0.864.
CONCLUSION Good doctors need to have not only appropriate standards of medical knowledge but also skills to understand and communicate well with patients, as well as self-management skills, which should not be overlooked in the medical education curriculum. By optimizing the results of this study, a more refined assessment tool of professionalism can be exploited.
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