EXPLORING QUALITY OF LIFE, STRESS, AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG MARRIED FEMALE CLINICAL STUDENTS IN NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERVENTIONS

Abstract

Background: The rigor of achieving an advanced degree is commonly accompanied by feelings of stress, particularly in the ever-growing and changing field of health sciences. Stress can impact learning. How students manage stress depends on their personal coping strategies and self-care. There is a need to evaluate students’ stress, coping methods, and quality of life to help identify issues negatively affecting students and strategize solutions and preventative methods.

Aim: To examine perceived stress, coping strategies, and quality of life in married female clinical students.

Material and methods: The Perceived Academic Stress Scale (PASS), Brief-COPE, and World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQoL-Bref) were administered to students. Data was obtained through an electronic questionnaire (Google Form), and the link to the questionnaire was shared via students’ WhatsApp groups. To analyze data, inferential statistics of Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient tests were used at the 0.05 level of significance.

Results: Fifty-three married female clinical students participated in this study. The results showed a significant increase in PASS scores, adaptive coping behaviors, and moderate quality of life. The PASS scores of the students had a moderate to large positive correlation with coping behaviors but no correlation between PASS scores and quality of life.

Conclusions: No significant correlations was observed between quality of life and perceived academic stress and coping strategies of married female clinical students.