Academic Stress And Coping Strategies Among Undergraduate Healthcare Professional Students In India: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Introduction: This study aimed to explore the academic stress among undergraduate healthcare professional students in India, before and after implementing specific Coping strategies. Academic stress plays an important role in mental health. It is essential that stress intervention programs be designed to address stress among college students. Materials and Methods: One group pre-test post-test, research design was used in the study. This quasi-experimental study was performed in 106 undergraduate healthcare students. A modified version of “College student’s stressful event checklist” (Holmes and Rahe 1967) is used to assess the academic stress and social readjustment scale was validated by research experts. Results: There was a significant decline in the stress level among 31% of students, after implementing various coping measures. A positive relationship was found between the medium of instruction and Academic stress. There is significant relationship between pre-test and post-test academic stress scores (p<0.001). Conclusion: Specific coping measures like breathing and relaxation exercises certainly help students to overcome various types of stresses that influence the academic program and improve their self-coping.