INTRODUCTION:

Stress is a common feature in all our lives. Stress comes from the interaction of the individual with environmental factors when he perceives challenging situations as exceeding the coping capacity. Chronic, it can generate physical, psychic, emotional and behavioral changes that compromise the well-being. Student nurses' academic stress is also related to peers and daily life. The current study found that more than half of students expressed high peer and daily life stress.

Academic sources of stress are like examinations, long hours of study, assignments, grades, lack of free time, lack of timely feedback after their performance, special elements of the academic programme like arrangement and conduction of workshops. Clinical sources of stress are like taking care of ill patients, interpersonal conflict with peer group, insecurity about personal clinical competence, fear to complete their clinical requirements, dealing with uncooperative patients, work overload, prolonged standing, learning psychomotor skills, e.g. bed making, bed bath, and vital signs monitoring have also been associated with high levels of stress.

NEED FOR STUDY:

According to National League for Nursing, 2012, annual Survey of Schools of Nursing, 29% of students in 2009, 27% of students in 2010 and 24% of students in 2011 are enrolled in basic RN programs.

Nursing students are prone to stress due to events that can be perceived as stressors during the training path in the health field. These events include the extensive workload, performance and responsibilities in the clinical setting, concern with the labor market, reconciling training with family life, the accumulation of academic activities, the carrying out of evaluations, among others.

Previous researches showed that early stress management can help control its effect as well as help students improve their wellbeing. Thus, health promotion activities such as stress management and healthy coping skills as well as life style modifications are required to empower nursing students to control their academic stress and stressors.

During nursing education and training, nursing students are frequently exposed to various stressors which may directly or indirectly impede their learning and performance. The nature of clinical education presents challenges that may cause students to experience stress. Moreover, the practical components of the program which is important in preparing students to develop into professional nurse role by its nature have made the program even more stressful than other programs.

Nursing students and persons employed in the nursing profession have been identified as a population with an elevated stress level because of the complexity of the nursing program which classified into didactic courses and practicum portion. Stressors for student nurses included adjusting to a rigorous program of theory, long hours of study and pressures of clinical practice.

Hence, the researcher has taken much initiation to identify the academic stress among nursing students.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A Descriptive Study Related To Academic Stress Among Bsc Nursing Students At Geetanjali College Of Nursing, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh.

OBJECTIVES:

· To assess the level of academic stress among I year Bsc (nursing) students.

· To find out the association between academic stress of students with their selected demographic variables.

HYPOTHESIS:

H₀1: There is a significant association between academic stress with their selected demographic variables.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS:

Academic stress:

It refers to physical and mental imbalance perceived by students when their academic requirements, demands and other stressors challenge their ability to cope, as assessed by modified academic scale related to stress.

I year Bsc Nursing:

It refers to the students those who are enrolled in the I year degree of Bachelor of Science nursing programme.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

RESEARCH APPROACH AND DESIGN:

Quantitative descriptive research approach

Research setting: Geetanjali College of nursing, kadapa

Target population: First year bsc nursing students.

Selection of sample: Simple random sampling

Sampling technique: Convenient sampling technique.

Sample size: 50 bsc nursing students.

Criteria For Sample Selection:

The students those who are,

· Willing to participate

· Available at the time of data collection

· First year bsc nursing students of Geetanjali College of nursing.

Description Of Tool:

Investigator developed tool with the help of extensive review from various text book, journals and websites, the tool was developed to assess the level of stress. Tool consists of two parts. A modified student stress scale was used to evaluate the student stress level related to academic stress. A total 50 nursing students were selected by using Non probability sampling technique from Geetanjali college of nursing. The data collection tool in the present study consisted of two parts:

Section A: Distribution of demographic variable of nursing students.

Section B: Association of level of academic stress with their demographic variables of nursing students.

Section A: Distribution of demographic variable of nursing students.

Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of demographic variable of nursing students by their Age, Gender, Education of parents, type of residence, monthly income and medium of instruction. (N=50)

Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of I Year B.sc. Nursing students demographic characteristics: (N=50)

S. No	Variables	Frequency	Percentage
1	Age:
	17- 18 years	11	22%
	19-20 years	38	76%
	Above 20 years	1	2%
2	Gender:
	Male	24	48%
	Female	26	52%
3	Education of parents:
	Illiterate	18	36
	Primary	10	20
	Secondary	11	22
	Degree/ above	11	22
4	Occupation of parents:
	Government	2	4
	Private	48	96
5	Type of residence:
	Hostellers	25	50
	Day scholar	25	50
6	Monthly income:
	Below 10,000/-	34	68
	Above 10, 000/-	16	32
7	Medium of pervious education:
	Telugu	9	18%
	English	41	82%

Part-II: Consists of modified student stress scale, it consists 20 negative questions which covers the areas of physical, psychological, academic, and sociological factors.

Table: 2 Association of level of academic stress with their demographic variables of nursing students. (N= 50)

S. No.	Variables	DF	Chi Square	P Value	Significant/ Not Significant
1	Age	4	9.49	6.26	Significant
2	Gender	2	176	19	Significant
3	Parent Education	6	136	12.5	Significant
4	Type of Residence	2	80.8	5.99	Significant
5	Monthly Income	2	201	19.3	Significant
6	Medium of Instruction	2	731	19.3	Significant

DISCUSSION:

In this discussion the researcher ties together all the loose ends of the study. The current narrative review highlights the students commonly reports moderate level of academic related stress which impact their mental and physical health and leads to a range of academic related problems. Good stress management skills have the potential to benefit students in an ongoing manner throughout their lives. The findings of the present study were discussed in accordance with the objectives of the study.

Objective 1: To assess the level of academic stress among nursing students.

The findings show that more than half 72 (36%) nursing students had moderate level of academic stress, less than half 16 (8%) nursing students had severe level of academic stress and 12 (6%) nursing students have mild level of academic level of academic stress.

Most of the nursing students 77% revealed that the syllabus is too vast and worried about examination. Around 74% stated that the stress is due to the discrepancy between theory and practical classes. About 72.2% expressed that teacher makes too many extra demands on them.

Hence it concluded that the maximum nursing students have moderate level of academic stress.

The study was similar with findings of Kava line Karunagari conducted a study on stress and coping among the under graduate nursing students. The aim of this research study was to assess the stress and coping level among the B.Sc. nursing students. The results showed the overall stress level among nursing students were under mild stress 27%, moderate 65%, high stress 8% and also the coping level among nursing students had poor coping 4%, mild coping 43%, moderate coping 45% and good coping 8% .

Objective 2: To determine the association of level of academic stress among nursing students with selected sociodemographic variables.

The results reveals that there was no association between religion, residential area, type of family, education status of mother, stress relieving technique because the calculated chi square value was less than table value but in age the calculated chi square value was 9.49, in Gender calculated chi square value was 176, in education status of parents calculated chi square value was 136, in the monthly income calculated chi square value was 201, in the medium of education status calculated chi square value was 731 which was more than table value. Association found significant at p<0.05 level.

The study was similar with findings of Acta Paul Enferm conducted a study on stress in nursing students, sociodemographic and academic vulnerabilities. The aim of this study was to analyze the association between the presence of stress in nursing study and socio-demographic and academic vulnerabilities. The result of this research study among all students 64% presenting stress with the stress following associated factor sex p < 0.010 p age group p <0.029, Mental status p<0.001, cost of children p<0.001, occupational status p < 0.001, cost of education p<0.009 and current study period p<0.001. The study concludes that women, students with partners, and those in the final year of study were more likely to have stress.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Nurse Educators and Curriculum:

· Planners should make a positive contribution towards minimizing the stress of student nurses.

· Efforts should be made to identify at risk students as early as possible. These students should be referred to student support services for tutoring, counseling or psychological aids.

· Stress management and coping skills Workshops should be provided to students especially in orientation week to make sure that students can adapt the coping strategies.

· Arrange some workshops at the beginning of every semester. Thus the students will be able to learn how to overcome the stress and perform well in the studies.

· Institutions should arrange classes for yoga, meditation and other stress relieving therapy to practice in class rooms.

· Counselors and psychologist should be arranged for effective counseling so that the students can overcome the stress. Increasing students stress management skills and abilities is an important target for change.

· The need for nursing training institutions to avoid structuring nursing training education over a short period of time as this mode of training can induce stress among students.

· Communication plays a major role in reducing the stress towards the nursing student.

· Extracurricular activities like sports, chess, indoor and outdoor games has to be implemented to the students in reducing the stress towards the students.

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Received on 22.10.2022 Modified on 14.11.2022

A and V Pub Int. J. of Nursing and Medical Res. 2022; 1(1):1-4.

DOI: 10.52711/ijnmr.2022.01