RESEARCH METHODS

Research Methods, Qualitative and quantitative

“An evaluation of student stress: causes and coping strategies at the University of Southampton” Quantitative

Introduction

Registered university students embarking on a part-time degree programme, have to cope with the competing demands of their studies, their professional responsibilities, their families as well as many other issues (Shipton, 2002). It is recognised that these circumstances are stressful and anxiety provoking (Lo, 2002 and Aherne, 2002), often resulting in students finding these competing demands difficult to cope with (Timmins and Kaliszer, 2002). Davey and Robinson (2002) and similarly Ashton and Shuldham (1994) suggest that frequently, women in particular, have to continue to cope with school age families, often fitting in their studies around household chores, which exacerbates feelings of academic stress. A number of strategies to ameliorate this stress have been investigated such as psychological support (Grant-Vallone and Ensher, 2000), exercise (Bolger, 1997 and Anshel, 1996), relaxation (Heaman, 1995), touch (Taylor and Lo, 2001), preceptorship (Yonge et al., 2002), and skills training (Mavis, 2001).

However, research that examines how tutorial support influences stress, a students ' self-esteem and coping ability is limited (Liddell et al., 2002), and the extent of intervention research in university Student education is limited. Therefore, this intervention study sought to redress imbalances in current research by evaluating academic stress, self-esteem, and coping ability amongst part-time BSc (Hons) Nursing Studies Students, in particular attempting to ascertain whether the provision of structured tutorial support influenced these constructs.

Literature review

A literature search of studies listed in the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) database was conducted from 1990-2003, using the terms student stress, tutorial support, self-esteem, anxiety, and coping. To ensure completeness of the review additional words included: cognitive coping, student support, support groups, empowerment, autonomy, intervention studies and psychological effects. A search was also undertaken to identify other studies that had used the research instruments utilised in this study. International studies were used, however foreign language studies were excluded from the review.

The way in which stress is conceptualised has a major impact on the way coping can be defined and studied. Stress arises from a transaction between an individual and the environment, when the individual construes stimuli as damaging, threatening or challenging (Scott et al., 1980). In general, stressful situations involve awareness of demands that exceed available resources, as appraised by the individual. An inclusive definition of stress does not exist, however a comprehensive description of stress has been provided by Ivancevich and Matteson (1990, p. 34)) who state that stress is: 'an adaptive response, mediated by individual differences and/or psychological processes that is a consequence of any external (environmental) action, situation or event that places excessive psychological and/or physical demands on a person'.

Stress is particularly important in education and educational institutions because it has the potential to impede human learning and functioning (Timmins and Kaliszer, 2002).

Coping is the natural counterpart of stress. It generally refers to a person's efforts to anticipate and respond to challenging or troublesome conditions. Many definitions of coping are documented in the ...