| dc.description.abstract | Stress is a public health concern. Stress is a condition that affects an individual mentally and physically due to environmental factors (Wadhera and Bano, 2020). It has a positive or negative impact to somebody's life experiencing it. High stress levels have been linked to lower academic performance and poorer physical and mental health among university students (Leppink et al., 2016). The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence stress among nursing students at Uzima University. This study adopted both qualitative and descriptive quantitative design. It was conducted at Uzima University among the nursing students. The study population constituted 362 students, which is the current total population of School of Nursing. The sample size for the study was 52 of the current nursing students. A stratified sampling technique was used whereby the nursing students were divided into strata according to their year of study. Thereafter students were randomly selected from each stratum using a convenience sampling technique. An administered structured questionnaire guided research questions and study objectives was used to gather data. It used a checklist and Likert scale questions. A software, Google Forms, was utilized. Data was entered in SPSS software version 29.0 for analysis. An interview guide was used to facilitate in-depth interviews with 5 lecturers (among them are clinical instructors) to generate qualitative data on prevalence of stress among nursing students at Uzima University. Data presentation was done in form of pie charts, percentages, texts, frequency tables, thematic extracts and discussions.. According to the results, Perceived Stress Scale (Adapted from Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale 1983) revealed that a significant majority (96%) of students experience moderate stress levels, indicating stress as a common issue among nursing students. However, only 4% report low or high stress levels, suggesting that while stress is prevalent, it’s generally moderate rather than extreme. On clinical factors, findings show that while a majority (53.8%) feel supported by clinical supervisors, a significant proportion remain undecided on resource adequacy (38.5%) and access to help from hospital staff (48.1%). Peer support appears to be a strong positive factor, with 65.4% agreeing they receive help from peers. However, mentoring and feedback still present areas for improvement, as 40.4% remain undecided about mentor feedback. This suggests that although support structures exist, there’s room for strengthening clinical mentorship and feedback. On institutional factors, the key institutional factors included financial support, access to housing, transport assistance, counseling services, academic expectations, and access to teaching staff. While 50% feel they receive sufficient financial support, there’s a high rate of undecided responses on flexible tuition plans (38.5%) and support for students facing financial difficulties (46.2%). Positive responses were noted on access to university resources (69.2%) and supportive teaching staff (61.5%). However, a notable percentage remain neutral on extracurricular opportunities (48.1%) and pressure to perform academically (57.7%). These findings suggest institutional improvements could focus on financial flexibility, extracurriculars, and transparent academic expectations to alleviate stress among students. The study highlights the need to combat the challenges that leads to emotional stress among the nursing students. These includes early identification of stressors, mitigation of clinical stress, provision of more resources and funding to learning, design curriculum on stress and stress coping strategies. | en_US |
