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Comparison of stress in freshman and senior nursing students

Comparación del estrés en universitarios de enfermería de primer año y egresos de la carrera

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To compare stress levels in freshman and senior nursing students.

Method:

A cross-sectional study was carried out in a public federal university of the state of Bahia, with students who answered questionnaires about sociodemographic variables, academic life, and a scale for assessing stress in nursing students. Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were applied to analyze the relationship between variables. To assess proportional trends between ordinal variables and groups, a chi-square test for linear trend was applied. The significance level was 5%.

Results:

One hundred and fifty-four students participated in the study. There was a tendency to higher stress levels among students in the last year compared to those in the first year, in four out of six domains: Performance of Practical Activities (p=0.00), Professional Communication (p=0.00), Environment (p=0.00) and Professional Education (p=0.00).

Conclusion:

High levels of stress were observed in students taking the last year. There is a need for broader research that includes other years of the course, an institutional reflection on stress factors and the adoption of an institutional policy that favors a better confrontation of stress factors.

DESCRIPTORS:
Students, Nursing; Stress, Psychological; Risk Factors

Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Enfermagem Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 419 , 05403-000 São Paulo - SP/ Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 3061-7553, - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: reeusp@usp.br