Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 6, 2024; 12(4): 758-765
Published online Feb 6, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i4.758
Perceived stress among staff in Saudi Arabian dental colleges before and after an accreditation process: A cross-sectional study
Amal S Shaiban
Amal S Shaiban, Department of Restorative Dental Science, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, Abha 61471, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Shaiban AS is the sole author of this paper.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Science and Research Office of College of Dentistry, King Khalid University.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Amal S Shaiban, BDS, Saudi Endodontic Board, Assistant Professor, Department of Restorative Dental Science, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, No. 960 P.O. Box, Abha 61471, Saudi Arabia. ashiban@kku.edu.sa
Received: October 22, 2023
Peer-review started: October 22, 2023
First decision: December 6, 2023
Revised: December 8, 2023
Accepted: January 9, 2024
Article in press: January 9, 2024
Published online: February 6, 2024
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Accreditation processes are extensively employed to guarantee the quality of higher education institutions. However, this process can potentially generate a stressful atmosphere for staff, thus impacting their ability to perform optimally under pressure.

Research motivation

With many medical and dental institutions now focusing on different ranking systems as metrics of academic excellence, a race is underway regarding the position of the institutions and organizations. To achieve these ranks, institutions adopt for different accreditation processes. During this process, the employees have to go through immense pressure and workload and hence we assessed their stress levels.

Research objectives

The present study aimed to examine the knowledge of the National Commission for Academic Assessment and Accreditation and its effects on perceived stress among dental college staff before and after the program accreditation process.

Research methods

A cross-sectional survey pre- and post-survey was conducted with the help of a validated questionnaire.

Research results

This study showed high stress during the accreditation process and low stress levels before and after the accreditation process.

Research conclusions

There is tremendous amount of stress involved during the accreditation process. Proper training and wellness programs should be conducted by the institutions for their employees.

Research perspectives

We should have employees well-being program throughout the year for their mental health condition since it will help them to maintain work life balance and cope up with the day to day stress.