A comparison of stresses experienced by home and overseas students of radiography

The present study indicates that student radiographers, on the whole, experience stresses similar to those of other healthcare student groups. Students are more stressed due to pressure relating to the curriculum and demands of radiography education and training. Students were also anxious when having to deal with death and severely ill patients. Poor inter-personal relationships coupled with lack of adequate support, especially from senior members of staff, is another area of concern. Literature on social support does suggest that with adequate support groups the effects of stress can be reduced. While it is clear that overseas student report more stress than home students, it remains unclear whether this finding is due to their actual experience or to a tendency to report problems more intensely on questionnaires. The present sample of overseas students indicates that they have similar stresses as those of home students, especially academic work and inter-personal relationships. One area that produced significant differences between the two groups was the 'feeling of homesickness', which produced greater distress among overseas students. This was not an unexpected finding and available literature on overseas students does suggest this problem. However, an interesting finding in this study is that overseas students feel unhappy over the quality of their education and career choice, and are lacking in motivation. Although such feelings exist among home students they are of more concern to overseas students. It is not possible to identify the cause of such feelings but they could be due to feelings of homesickness which produces negative evaluation of the curriculum. On the other hand, further work needs to be done to identify whether radiography education and training fails to fulfill the aspirations and career needs of the overseas students.