The association of stress with sleep quality among medical students at King Abdulaziz University

Maha A Safhi; Raghad A Alafif; Nouf M Alamoudi; Malak M Alamoudi; Wejdan A Alghamdi; Shatha F Albishri; Hisham Rizk

doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_745_19

The association of stress with sleep quality among medical students at King Abdulaziz University

J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 Mar 26;9(3):1662-1667. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_745_19. eCollection 2020 Mar.

Authors

Maha A Safhi¹, Raghad A Alafif¹, Nouf M Alamoudi¹, Malak M Alamoudi¹, Wejdan A Alghamdi¹, Shatha F Albishri¹, Hisham Rizk²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Surgery, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to determine the prevalence and the association of stress with sleep quality among medical students at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among 326 medical students of KAU using a stratified random sampling technique. An electronic self-administered questionnaire was used. Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to assess the stress and sleep quality, respectively.

Results: The overall students who experienced stress were 65%. The prevalence of poor sleep quality (total PSQI score ≥5) was 76.4%. There was a strong association between stress and poor sleep quality (value of Cramer's V = 0.371, P < 0.001), and it showed that the increase in stress level is a significant predictor of poor sleep quality.

Conclusion: A high prevalence of stress and poor sleep quality was found among the students and the study confirms a strong association between them. We recommend establishing courses focusing on educating the students about proper sleep hygiene and how to deal with the stressful environment.

Keywords: Cross-sectional; Saudi Arabia; medical students; sleep disorders; stress.