Stress and Coping Mechanism of Student Nurses

Abstract

Modern life is full of hassles, deadlines, frustrations, and demands. For many people, stress is so commonplace that it has become a way of life (Smith, Segal J., and Segal R., 2014). Coping mechanisms on the other hand is described as ‘survival skills’. The strategies that people use in order to deal with stresses, pain, and natural changes that people experience in life. Previous studies have shown that students with high levels of stress could cause difficulties in their education, which could lead to a variety of mental and physical health-related problems. Whereas low levels of stress were discovered to be a motivation for the students. The study sought to determine the level of stress and coping mechanism of Benguet State University student nurses and the relationship between the two. Quantitative descriptive research method was utilized. All 265 Benguet State University student nurses enrolled for second semester of S.Y. 2014-2015 were asked to answer the questionnaire about stress developed by Canadian Mental Health Association; while a 4 point-Likert scale was used to rate the level of coping mechanism. Results were subjected to several statistical measures. It was deduced that sex and ethnic affiliation does not affect the level of stress of student nurses while their year level do so. Both level II and Level III experience utmost level of stress while Level I experience the least. At the same time, student nurses from Level I signify predominantly on coping with stress. It was concluded that effective use of coping mechanism decreases stress. It is recommended that nursing administrators should collaborate with each other on balancing the requirements of student nurses both on academic and clinical setting.