Cerebral Cortical Activity During Academic Stress Amongst Undergraduate Medical Students at Kampala International University (Uganda)
Background: Stress among medical students is related to their academic lifespan; however, information on brain health among medical students from developing countries continues to be scarce. The objective of this study was to establish perceived academic stress levels, assess the ability to cope wit...
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Kabale University
2023
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/908 |
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| author | Mujinya, Regan Kalange, Muhamudu Ochieng, Juma John Ninsiima, Herbert Izo Eze, Ejike Daniel Afodun, Adam Moyosore Nabirumbi, Ritah Sulaiman, Sheu Oluwadare Kairania, Emmanuel Echoru, Isaac Okpanachi, Alfred Omachonu Matama, Kevin Asiimwe, Oscar Hilary Nambuya, Grace Usman, Ibe Michael Obado, Osuwat Lawrence Zirintunda, Gerald Ssempijja, Fred Nansunga, Miriam Matovu, Henry Ayikobua, Emmanuel Tiyo Nganda, Ponsiano Ernest Onanyang, David Ekou, Justine Musinguzi, Simon Peter Ssimbwa, Godfrey Keneth Iceland, Kasozi |
| author_facet | Mujinya, Regan Kalange, Muhamudu Ochieng, Juma John Ninsiima, Herbert Izo Eze, Ejike Daniel Afodun, Adam Moyosore Nabirumbi, Ritah Sulaiman, Sheu Oluwadare Kairania, Emmanuel Echoru, Isaac Okpanachi, Alfred Omachonu Matama, Kevin Asiimwe, Oscar Hilary Nambuya, Grace Usman, Ibe Michael Obado, Osuwat Lawrence Zirintunda, Gerald Ssempijja, Fred Nansunga, Miriam Matovu, Henry Ayikobua, Emmanuel Tiyo Nganda, Ponsiano Ernest Onanyang, David Ekou, Justine Musinguzi, Simon Peter Ssimbwa, Godfrey Keneth Iceland, Kasozi |
| author_sort | Mujinya, Regan |
| collection | KAB-DR |
| description | Background: Stress among medical students is related to their academic lifespan; however, information on brain health among medical students from developing countries continues to be scarce. The objective of this study was to establish perceived academic stress levels, assess the ability to cope with stress, and investigate its effects on the visual reaction time (VRT), audio reaction time (ART), and tactile reaction time (TRT) in the somatosensory cortex among medical students of Uganda.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among preclinical (n = 88) and clinical (n = 96) undergraduate medical students at Kampala International University Western Campus. A standard Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was used to categorize stress into low, moderate, and severe while the ability to cope with stress was categorized into below average, average, above average, and superior stresscoper (SS). Data on reaction time were acquired through VRT, ART, and TRT using the catch-a-ruler experiment, and this was analyzed using SPSS version 20.
Results: This study shows that preclinical students are more stressed than clinical
students (PSS prevalence for low stress = preclinical; clinical: 40, 60%). Moderate stress
was 48.4 and 51.6% while high perceived stress was 75 and 25% among preclinical and
clinical students. Among male and female students in preclinical years, higher TRT and
VRT were found in clinical students showing that stress affects the tactile and visual cortical areas in the brain, although the VRT scores were only significantly (P = 0.0123)
poor in male students than female students in biomedical sciences. Also, highly stressed individuals had higher TRT and ART and low VRT. SS had high VRT and ART and low TRT in preclinical students, demonstrating the importance of the visual cortex in stress plasticity. Multiple regression showed a close relationship between PSS, ability to cope with stress, age, and educational level (P < 0.05), demonstrating the importance of social and psychological support, especially in the biomedical sciences.
Conclusion: Preclinical students suffer more from stress and are poorer SS than clinical students. This strongly impairs their cortical regions in the brain, thus affecting their academic productivity.
Keywords:Brain Stress, Medical Education, Cerebral Cortex, Brains, Africans, Reaction Time (RT), Academic Stress |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:idr.kab.ac.ug:20.500.12493-908 |
| institution | KAB-DR |
| language | en_US |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Kabale University |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oai:idr.kab.ac.ug:20.500.12493-9082024-01-17T04:44:47Z Cerebral Cortical Activity During Academic Stress Amongst Undergraduate Medical Students at Kampala International University (Uganda) Mujinya, Regan Kalange, Muhamudu Ochieng, Juma John Ninsiima, Herbert Izo Eze, Ejike Daniel Afodun, Adam Moyosore Nabirumbi, Ritah Sulaiman, Sheu Oluwadare Kairania, Emmanuel Echoru, Isaac Okpanachi, Alfred Omachonu Matama, Kevin Asiimwe, Oscar Hilary Nambuya, Grace Usman, Ibe Michael Obado, Osuwat Lawrence Zirintunda, Gerald Ssempijja, Fred Nansunga, Miriam Matovu, Henry Ayikobua, Emmanuel Tiyo Nganda, Ponsiano Ernest Onanyang, David Ekou, Justine Musinguzi, Simon Peter Ssimbwa, Godfrey Keneth Iceland, Kasozi Brain Stress Medical Education Cerebral Cortex Brains Africans Reaction Time (RT) Academic Stress Background: Stress among medical students is related to their academic lifespan; however, information on brain health among medical students from developing countries continues to be scarce. The objective of this study was to establish perceived academic stress levels, assess the ability to cope with stress, and investigate its effects on the visual reaction time (VRT), audio reaction time (ART), and tactile reaction time (TRT) in the somatosensory cortex among medical students of Uganda. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among preclinical (n = 88) and clinical (n = 96) undergraduate medical students at Kampala International University Western Campus. A standard Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was used to categorize stress into low, moderate, and severe while the ability to cope with stress was categorized into below average, average, above average, and superior stresscoper (SS). Data on reaction time were acquired through VRT, ART, and TRT using the catch-a-ruler experiment, and this was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: This study shows that preclinical students are more stressed than clinical students (PSS prevalence for low stress = preclinical; clinical: 40, 60%). Moderate stress was 48.4 and 51.6% while high perceived stress was 75 and 25% among preclinical and clinical students. Among male and female students in preclinical years, higher TRT and VRT were found in clinical students showing that stress affects the tactile and visual cortical areas in the brain, although the VRT scores were only significantly (P = 0.0123) poor in male students than female students in biomedical sciences. Also, highly stressed individuals had higher TRT and ART and low VRT. SS had high VRT and ART and low TRT in preclinical students, demonstrating the importance of the visual cortex in stress plasticity. Multiple regression showed a close relationship between PSS, ability to cope with stress, age, and educational level (P < 0.05), demonstrating the importance of social and psychological support, especially in the biomedical sciences. Conclusion: Preclinical students suffer more from stress and are poorer SS than clinical students. This strongly impairs their cortical regions in the brain, thus affecting their academic productivity. Keywords:Brain Stress, Medical Education, Cerebral Cortex, Brains, Africans, Reaction Time (RT), Academic Stress 2023-02-01T03:42:08Z 2023-02-01T03:42:08Z 2022 Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/908 en_US application/pdf Kabale University |
| spellingShingle | Brain Stress Medical Education Cerebral Cortex Brains Africans Reaction Time (RT) Academic Stress Mujinya, Regan Kalange, Muhamudu Ochieng, Juma John Ninsiima, Herbert Izo Eze, Ejike Daniel Afodun, Adam Moyosore Nabirumbi, Ritah Sulaiman, Sheu Oluwadare Kairania, Emmanuel Echoru, Isaac Okpanachi, Alfred Omachonu Matama, Kevin Asiimwe, Oscar Hilary Nambuya, Grace Usman, Ibe Michael Obado, Osuwat Lawrence Zirintunda, Gerald Ssempijja, Fred Nansunga, Miriam Matovu, Henry Ayikobua, Emmanuel Tiyo Nganda, Ponsiano Ernest Onanyang, David Ekou, Justine Musinguzi, Simon Peter Ssimbwa, Godfrey Keneth Iceland, Kasozi Cerebral Cortical Activity During Academic Stress Amongst Undergraduate Medical Students at Kampala International University (Uganda) |
| title | Cerebral Cortical Activity During Academic Stress Amongst Undergraduate Medical Students at Kampala International University (Uganda) |
| title_full | Cerebral Cortical Activity During Academic Stress Amongst Undergraduate Medical Students at Kampala International University (Uganda) |
| title_fullStr | Cerebral Cortical Activity During Academic Stress Amongst Undergraduate Medical Students at Kampala International University (Uganda) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cerebral Cortical Activity During Academic Stress Amongst Undergraduate Medical Students at Kampala International University (Uganda) |
| title_short | Cerebral Cortical Activity During Academic Stress Amongst Undergraduate Medical Students at Kampala International University (Uganda) |
| title_sort | cerebral cortical activity during academic stress amongst undergraduate medical students at kampala international university uganda |
| topic | Brain Stress Medical Education Cerebral Cortex Brains Africans Reaction Time (RT) Academic Stress |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/908 |
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