assessment of clinical anxiety and coping mechanisms in dental undergraduate students of zahedan university of medical sciences: a cross-sectional study

Background: undergraduate students cope with different aspects of dental learning creating stressful situations automatically.objectives: this study aimed to evaluate clinical anxiety and coping mechanisms in students.methods: this cross-sectional study involved 218 dental students from the fourth to sixth year at zahedan university of medical sciences. questionnaires, including the mmms and csis, were utilized to identify anxiety-inducing situations and various coping strategies. participants assessed their anxiety levels regarding specific situations on a 4-point scale, categorizing them as not anxious, fairly anxious, or severely anxious. using the csis, participants indicated their coping strategies, which were scored on a 3-point scale. the subgroup with the highest scores was designated as the primary coping strategy. statistical analyses, including chi-square, fisher exact test, independent t-test, and one-way anova, were conducted using spss 22 at a significance level of 0.05.results: response rate was 92%. the mean clinical anxiety score was 2.09±0.33. the majority was fairly anxious. levels of clinical anxiety showed a significant relation with age (p<0.001), and academic year (p=0.002). mean score of clinical anxiety was significantly differed due to age (p<0.001), and academic year (p<0.001). no significant relationship was found between clinical anxiety and gender; neither qualitatively nor quantitatively. seeking social support was the most prevalent coping. coping had no relation with age, gender, academic year and level of clinical anxiety.conclusion: younger students and those new to clinical training experience higher anxiety, underscoring targeted interventions. dental schools should implement mental health support to enhance the student well-being preventing psychological challenges.