Stress and its Sources among Professional Students of Kerala

Author: Femi Francis, Alimudeen S., Namratha Valsalan, Ditty Maria Dominic and Aswathy Chandrakumar

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Abstract

Stress has become a part of day-to-day life and seems to be normalised. While some stress, especially when experienced over a longer period of time, produces harmful effects, some stress can motivate one to progress towards the objective. Fewer research has been carried out regionally, despite the fact that many studies have been carried out globally to identify the sources of stress among professional students. The present study was conducted to assess the stress level in professional students of Kerala and to identify various stress factors. A pre-tested questionnaire was prepared in google forms and was distributed among the professional students of Kerala. The study was conducted among 287 respondents and 33% of the females and 31.11% of the male respondents were observed to be stressed. As with age or place of residence, there was no association between gender and reported stress levels. The academic factor was the major stressor followed by the socio-psychological factors. The frequency of exams was observed to be the most contributing factor among the academic factors. The nutritional stress factors were more prevalent among females. Understanding the stress factors would help to develop various stress management strategies and to implement various stress relieving activities to alleviate stress among the students. The current study's findings can be used by psychologists and counsellors to build effective counselling modules and intervention strategies to help students to cope up with stress.

Keywords

Stress, Professional students, Academic, Social, Health

Conclusion

Professional students are exposed to stress irrespective of the professional courses under study with the female proportion being higher. The most reported stressor in this study was academic factors followed by socio-psychological factors and then nutritional/ health related factors. Hence more targeted approaches are required to reduce the academic stress in the students such as peer mentoring, the inclusion of a stress management curriculum, etc. Students should be encouraged to be indulged in recreational activities and extracurricular activities. A holistic approach can be targeted that improves the overall well-being of the student.

References

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How to cite this article

Femi Francis, Alimudeen S., Namratha Valsalan, Ditty Maria Dominic and Aswathy Chandrakumar (2023). Stress and its Sources among Professional Students of Kerala. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(7): 715-719.