Stress triggers in the educational environment from the perspective of nursing students

Abstract

Objective: to identify stress triggers in the educational environment as perceived by nursing students. Method: descriptive-exploratory, quantitative study, conducted with 146 nursing students to whom the Stress Assessment Scale was applied, between august and September 2013. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and linear regression were used to analyze the data. Results: the most important stress triggers identified was lack of time to be with friends/family and to take part in leisure activities or to rest. Additionally, difficulties faced in relationships between professors and students were directly related to poor academic performance and perceived poor knowledge acquisition. Conclusion: identifying and understanding the factors that stress trigger among nursing students can enable better management of stressful situations, contributing to improved academic performance and, consequently, improved quality of life among students.