Investigating Stress and Sources of Stress Among Female Health Profession Students in a Saudi University

Figures & data

Table 1 Characteristics Variables of the Respondents

Variable	No.	%
Age
19	51	19.6
20	94	36.2
21	74	28.5
22	41	15.8
Total	260	100
Year of Study
Second year	78	30.0
Third year	99	38.1
Fourth year	83	31.9
Total	260	100
Department
Public Health	22	8.5
Respiratory Care	64	24.6
Physical Therapy	56	21.5
Cardiac Technology	57	21.9
Clinical Nutrition	31	11.9
Health Information Management	30	11.5
Total	260	100
Overall Stress Level
No to mild stress	20	7.7
Moderate stress	108	41.5
High stress	111	42.7
Severe stress	21	8.1
Total	260	100
Academic Performance (GPA)
Excellent	84	32.3
Very good	144	55.4
Good	21	8.1
Average	11	4.2
Total	260	100

Table 2 The Mean Domain Scores and Reliability Coefficient Values (N = 260)

Stressor Domain	Degree of Stress Mean (SD)	Number of Items	Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficients
Academic-Related Stressors (ARS)	2.71 (0.73)	5	0.753
Group Activity-Related Stressors (GARS)	2.12 (0.91)	3	0.651
Teaching- and Learning-Related Stressors (TLRS)	1.95 (0.98)	3	0.681
Intrapersonal- and Interpersonal-Related Stressors (IRS)	1.69 (1.10)	4	0.860
Social-Related Stressors (SRS)	1.63 (1.03)	3	0.714
Drive- and Desire-Related Stressors (DRS)	1.36 (1.25)	2	0.703
Overall	2.01 (0.69)	20	0.885

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.

Table 3 One-Way ANOVA of Domain Stress Scores by Year of Study

Stressor Domains	Second Year Mean (SD)	Third Year Mean (SD)	Fourth Year Mean (SD)	P-value
Academic-Related Stressors (ARS)	2.62 (0.67)	2.60 (0.79)	2.93 (0.67)	0.004*
Group Activity-Related Stressors (GARS)	2.02 (0.86)	1.99 (0.95)	2.36 (0.88)	0.012*
Teaching- and Learning-Related Stressors (TLRS)	1.86 (0.86)	1.71 (1.97)	2.33 (1.00)	0.001*
Social-Related Stressors (SRS)	1.70 (0.93)	1.45 (1.01)	1.77 (1.13)	0.08
Intrapersonal- and Interpersonal-Related Stressors (IRS)	1.67 (1.0)	1.52 (1.11)	1.91 (1.15)	0.057
Drive- and Desire-Related Stressors (DRS)	1.37 (1.23)	1.16 (1.21)	1.60 (1.29)	0.06
Overall Mean of Stressors	1.96 (0.60)	1.84 (1.71)	2.25 (0.69)	0.001*

Note: *Significant at α < 0.05 (2-tailed).

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.

Table 4 Binary Logistic Regression Analysis of the Association Between Stress Among Health Profession Students with Regard to Their Age, Year of Study and Academic Performance

Variables	AOR [95% C.I.]	P-value
Age
19 (ref)	–	–
20 years	0.6 [0.2–1. 4]	0.28
21 years	0.3 [0.1–1.7]	0.91
22 years	0.5 [0.1–2.1]	0.36
Year of study
4^th year (ref)	–	–
3^rd year	0.4 [0.1–0.5]	0.001*
2^nd year	0.3 [0.1–0.8]	0.030*
Academic performance
Below average (ref)	–	–
Average	1.0 [0.2–5.1]	0.99
Very good	0.3 [0.7–1.3]	0.11
Excellent	0.3 [0.1–1.3]	0.13

Note: *Significant at α < 0.05 (2-tailed).

Abbreviations: AOR, adjusted odds ratios; CI, confidence interval.

Table 5 Top Stressors Ranked by Mean Degree of Stress as Perceived by Health Profession Students

Statement	Degree of Stress Mean (SD)	Stressor Domain
Causing High to Severe Stress
Lack of time to review what has been learned	3.01 (.980)	Academic-Related Stressors (ARS)
Causing Moderate to High Stress
Large amount of content to be learned	2.99 (.934)	Academic-Related Stressors (ARS)
Heavy workload	2.89 (1.078)	Academic-Related Stressors (ARS)
Tests/examinations	2.78 (1.044)	Academic-Related Stressors (ARS)
Need to do well (imposed by others)	2.27 (1.191)	Group Activity-Related Stressors (GARS)
Facing illness or death of patients	2.13 (1.457)	Social-Related Stressors (SRS)
Participation in class presentation	2.07 (1.224)	Group Activity-Related Stressors (GARS)
Feeling of incompetence	2.04 (1.258)	Group Activity-Related Stressors (GARS)
Uncertainty about what is expected of me	2.03 (1.274)	Teaching and Learning Stressors (TLRS)
Causing Mild to Moderate Stress
Lack of recognition for work done	1.94 (1.265)	Teaching and Learning Stressors (TLRS)
Falling behind in reading schedule	1.91 (1.164)	Academic-Related Stressors (ARS)
Conflict with teacher(s)	1.89 (1.352)	Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Related Stressors (IRS)
Not enough feedback from teacher(s)	1.89 (1.242)	Teaching and Learning Stressors (TLRS)
Verbal or physical abuse by teacher(s)	1.83 (1.328)	Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Related Stressors (IRS)
Verbal or physical abuse by personnel	1.67 (1.320)	Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Related Stressors (IRS)
Unable to answer questions from patients	1.57 (1.245)	Social-Related Stressors (SRS)

Notes: Degree of stress: 0–1 is “causing nil to mild stress”, 1.01–2.00 is “causing mild to moderate stress”, 2.01–3.00 is “causing moderate to high stress”, 3.01–4.00 is “causing high to severe stress”.

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.