Perceived stress, coping strategies and associated factors among Colombian undergraduate health science students

Students involved in health sciences programs usually experience high levels of stress due to the academic loads, clinical responsibilities, and emotional demands from caring for patients. This situation can negatively impact student performance. In Latin America, few studies have investigated this problem. We sought to identify the prevalence of stress perceived by health science university students in northeastern Colombia, as well as the associated factors and the relationships between these factors and individual coping strategies.

We conducted an analytic cross-sectional study involving 783 undergraduate students from thirteen academic programs in the health sciences. The students completed the Spanish versions of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) and the Brief Coping Orientation Problems Experienced Inventory (COPE-28). In addition, sociodemographic variables related to lifestyle and the academic environment were collected. Frequencies and proportions were calculated for the qualitative variables, and measures of central tendency and dispersion were calculated for the quantitative variables. A backward stepwise logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between covariates and perceived stress; this was not a causal study. A p value < 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance.

The median age of the participants was 21 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 20-25), and the sample included 550 (70.2%) females. The overall mean (± Standard deviations [SD]) PSS-14 score was 27.6 (± 7.5); additionally, high levels of perceived stress were reported by 345 (44.1%) students. Having a medication-taking routine (adjusted OR [AOR] = 2.43, 95% CI: 1.59-3.71) and attending a public university (AOR = 2.58, 95% CI: 1.60-4.15) were associated with high perceived stress, whereas male sex (AOR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.32-0.66) and engaging in physical activity (AOR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.51-0.96) were negatively associated (protective factors) with perceived stress. Regarding coping strategies, self-distraction (AOR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.02-1.30), behavioral disengagement (AOR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.03-1.32) and self-blame (AOR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.54-2.03) increased the likelihood of high perceived stress, whereas the use of informational support (AOR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.71-0.93), positive reframing (AOR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.76-0.98), and planning (AOR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.66-0.88) decreased the likelihood of high perceived stress.

High perceived stress was reported by 44.1% of the participants. Students employed different coping strategies, in which context active coping exhibited the highest mean score and substance use exhibited the lowest mean score.