Assessment of causes of stress in a pharmacy student population during semester and examination period

Abstract

Stress is one of the most significant factors that can influence the academic performance of students. To explore the causes of stress in students, the crosssectional online survey was conducted during semester (in 2019 year) and during examination period (in 2020 year) period at the University of Belgrade - Faculty of Pharmacy. The main results indicated that female gender was the most significant predictor of stress during the examimation period, and the most frequent stress sources were limited time to prepare exams and/or colloquia. The role of family, friends, and boyfriend/girlfriend showed to be of great importance in stress reduction during the semester and especially during the examimation period. The most frequent manifestations of stress were feeling nervous, tired and worried. For stress reduction students usually listened to music and talked with friends. Therefore, student’s obligations and their overall living conditions should be observed comprehensively. These results may indicate further actions to decrease stress levels in students, and need for academic environment that may help students to achieve the best academic performance.

Stres je jedan od najznačajnijih faktora koji mogu da utiču na akademske performanse studenata. U cilju ispitivanja uzroka stresa u populaciji studenata Farmaceutskog fakulteta Univerziteta u Beogradu, sprovedena je studija preseka tokom semestra (u 2019. godini) i ispitnog roka (u 2020. godini), putem onlajn upitnika. Rezultati studije pokazali su da je ženski pol značajni prediktor stresa tokom ispitnog roka, dok je ograničeno vreme za pripremu ispita/kolokvijuma najznačajniji uzrok stresa. Porodica, prijatelji i partneri su najznačajniji u smanjenju stresa, posebno tokom ispitnih rokova. Najčešće manifestacije stresa su osećaj nervoze, umora i zabrinutosti. U cilju smanjenja stresa studenti sluščaju muziku ili razgovaraju sa prijateljima. Time obaveze i uslove života studenata treba sveobuhvatno posmatrati. Rezultati ove studije mogu ukazati na dalje mere i aktivnosti kako bi se umanjio stres kod studenata, kao i na to kakvo akademsko okruženje treba razviti da bi se poboljšale akademske performanse studenata.