ASSESSING LEVEL OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, LEVEL OF STRESS AND STRESS COPING AMONG MEDICAL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Abstract

The present investigation was undertaken to assess the level of emotional intelligence,level of stress and level of stress coping among medical undergraduate students. In medical education stress is inevitable but emotional intelligence plays significant role in dealing with stress and utilizing available resources to deal effectively with it. Thus, it is important to study above mentioned variables together. The study was conducted on the 1^st year students of medical, dental and para medical faculty using Emotional intelligence questionnaire,Cohen`s perceived stress scale and stress coping checklist.Sample size consisted of 289 medical students(MBBS: 75, BDS:67,Para medicals: 147) of Santosh deemed to be university, 2015-16 batch.The results showed low levels of emotional intelligence,moderate level of stress among medical students andstress coping was found to be at a manageable level. There was no significant relation found between emotional intelligence with stress and stress coping, but a desired trend has been detected hence it is expected that if emotional intelligence is increased then level of stress will decrease with improved coping. Finding didn’t indicate pathological variable but in future low emotional intelligence will definitely interfere with their academic and clinical performance hence medical students are needed to be trained in stress coping strategiesalong with a program enhancing their emotional intelligence.