Evaluation of stress in the dental environment and its association with educational self-efficacy in dental students

Background: Dental students face significant stress due to the demands of their education, which may impact their academic performance. This study aims to examine the relationship between stress in the dental environment and academic self-efficacy among dental student. Methods: The present research was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study that was performed on 225 third- to sixth-year dentistry students of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences who were studying during the academic year 2021-2022. The data collection method was three questionnaires: demographic questionnaire, modified dental environment stress questionnaire, and McElroy educational self-efficacy questionnaire. Pearson correlation coefficient, linear regression, Independent Samples T, least significant difference, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Chi-square tests were used to analyze the collected data. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to evaluate the normality of the data. Results: The overall average stress scores in the dimensions of clinical training, university factors, personal beliefs, patient care, and academic efficiency were 3.03±1.09, 3.57±0.77, 3.52±0.82, 2.67±1.12 and 2.58±1.23, respectively. The stress of the dental setting showed a significant relationship with the variables of gender, academic semester, and academic self-efficacy (P<0.05). The stress score was higher in females than in males. With an increase in academic semester and educational self-efficacy, the stress level was significantly higher. Conclusion: The present study shows that students with higher educational self-efficacy, experience more stress. Therefore, it seems that they endure a large amount of stress in the dental environment to achieve higher self-efficacy and are unable to deal with it properly.