Academic stress factors and associated symptoms in nursing students

This study was conducted on examining the relationship between stress and academic performance of under-graduate students, from the public and private universities. The objectives of this study was to assess the level of stress due to academic and non-academic factors among under-graduate students from public and private universities, and to find out the difference between stress level of under graduate students from 3rd and final year. This research study was descriptive and quantitative in nature. The population of this study was 473 students from public and private universities. Sample of the study was 210 students. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample from the population. Two self-developed research instruments were used to collect information about the stress factors and academic performance in order to analyze the relationship among stress and academic performance of under-graduate students from both private and public universities. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and percentage) and inferential statistics (t-test) to find out the difference between stress and academic performance of students from both, the public and private universities of Pakistan. It was found that students were experiencing considerable stress due to both academic and non-academic factors. When analyzing the academic and non-academic stress factors separately, it was observed that students from both public and private universities were having more stress due to academic factors as compared to non- academic stress factors. Further, the main academic factors that created high stress among students were work load factor and transition from annual to semester system. Moreover, it was also concluded that there is a significant difference between academic stress of under-graduate students from public and private universities. As the findings indicated significant, negative, and weak relationship between stress and academic performance for undergraduate students from both public and private universities, it was recommended to implement regular stress assessments and academic performance evaluations to monitor trends over time. This ongoing evaluation can help universities adapt and refine support mechanisms based on evolving student needs.

This article aims to understand and characterize the impact of factors of mental health and interpersonal relationships on physical and psychological symptoms in adolescents. It includes 8215 students, of which 4327 are girls (52.7%), with an average age of 14.36 years ( SD =2.28) that participate in the study Health Behavior in School aged Children/HBSC. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA analysis and logistic regressions were performed for two dependent variables in study – psychological symptoms and physical symptoms. In general, girls show values in relation to physical and psychological symptoms, anxiety/stress and depression that are less positive when compared to boys. Older adolescents show values that are less positive in the same variables, except for anxiety/stress, which presents higher values in younger adolescents. Girls and older adolescents have lower positive values with regard to relationships with family, teachers and colleagues, than boys and younger adolescents. The female gender, higher values of depression followed by less support from the family contribute strongly to the explanation of psychological and physical symptoms. It is possible to verify that the variance explained by gender and by depression is higher in the case of psychological symptoms when compared to physical symptoms, and that the variance explained by family relationship is higher in the case of physical symptoms when compared with psychological symptoms. This study identifies a positive relationship between mental health (less physical and psychological symptoms, lower depression and lower anxiety) and more positive relationships with family, colleagues and teachers, as well as gender and age specificities. These results have important implications in terms of public policies for the family and the school contexts.

Objective: Academic stress is a prevalent issue among university students, particularly nursing students, due to the demanding nature of their studies. This study examines the prevalence of academic stress and its psychological, behavioral, and physical impacts on the mental health of nursing students. Methods and Materials: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 260 nursing students from the College of Nursing at Palestine Polytechnic University. Data were collected using validated tools, including the DASS-21, the Perception of Academic Stress Scale, and the Academic Stress Inventory (ASI). Statistical analysis involved descriptive statistics, t-tests, and ANOVA using SPSS version 20. Findings: The study revealed that the overall impact of academic stress on mental health was moderate (mean = 3.14). The most significant stressor was the high number of exams during the semester (mean = 4.07). Psychological symptoms were the most prominent (mean = 3.63), with students reporting anxiety, loss of study passion, and exam-related nervousness. Physical symptoms such as headaches, concentration issues, and sleep disturbances were also noted. Coping strategies were moderately utilized, with female students showing higher psychological and physical stress symptoms, while males demonstrated better coping. First-year students exhibited the highest levels of stress. Conclusion: Academic stress has a significant impact on the mental health, particularly psychological well-being, of nursing students. Institutions should implement targeted interventions focusing on workload management, emotional intelligence training, and support systems to enhance students’ coping mechanisms.

Day-to-day co-variations of psychological and physical symptoms of the menstrual cycle: Insights to individual differences in steroid reactivity

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a common condition affecting a significant number of women worldwide, characterized by various physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms that occur in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and resolve after menstruation begins. This study aimed to assess the prevalence, severity and changes of PMS and its association with demographic and dietary factors among 400 women of childbearing age of 18-45 years, selected through purposive sampling in Tangail, Bangladesh. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire that included demographic information, dietary habits and various PMS symptoms. Participants reported on the frequency and intensity of multiple common PMS symptoms across three categories: psychological, behavioral, and physical. Psychological symptoms were prevalent, with irritability (62.81%), depression (53.90%), anxiety (43.84%) and blubbering (57.82%) being common. Behavioral symptoms included tiredness (71.32%), fatigue (59.61%), lack of concentration (5311%) and insomnia (49.08%). Physical symptoms like abdominal pain (66.90%), nausea & vomiting (52.10%) and headache (44.81%) were also widespread. Statistical analysis demonstrated significant reductions (p<0.05) in symptoms such as psychological (irritability, nervousness, blubbering), behavioral (increased appetite, insomnia, tiredness), and physical (headache, back pain) symptoms in post-menstruation, indicating hormonal influences on symptom severity. Logistic regression analyses indicated that older age (AOR=1.03, 95%CI: 1.00-1.06) and higher BMI (AOR=1.02, 95%CI: 1.00-1.05) significantly increased the odds of severe irritation, while higher educational levels were protective. Excessive sugar and fat intake were linked to increased severity of irritation (AOR=2.26, 95%CI: 1.27-4.01 & AOR=1.61, 95%CI: 0.98-2.65) and tension (AOR=1.63, 95%CI: 1.05-2.53 & AOR=1.36, 95%CI: 0.86-2.14). In contrast, multi-nutrient supplements showed a protective effect against severe irritation, suggesting a complex relationship with PMS. Overall, it is recommended that public health initiatives incorporate targeted nutritional interventions, such as promoting balanced diets rich in essential nutrients, and raising awareness about PMS management is necessary to improve women's health outcomes.

Background: COVID-19 has not only damaged the individual's physical health, but also the community’s mental health. The current study is conducted to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on mental health and anxiety level of the university students.
 Methods: In the current cross-sectional study, 216 students from Mashhad University of Medical Sciences were collected using simple random sampling during COVID-19 pandemic in 2022. To determine anxiety symptoms relevant to COVID-19, Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS) was used, and to assess the status of mental health, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used. Data were analyzed through SPSS software. Descriptive analysis statistics was performed using frequency percentages, and mean and standard deviation indexes. Furthermore, multiple linear regressions were calculated with psychological and physical symptoms of CDAS and mental health scores. The significance level of all statistical tests was 0.05.
 Results: 84.3% (182 participants) of the participants had medium and high levels of psychological symptoms of Corona disease anxiety, and regarding physical symptoms, approximately more than half of the participants (55.6%, 120 participants) experienced medium and high levels of anxiety. Both the psychological and physical symptoms of the disease anxiety were associated significantly with mental health (ß standard = 0.14, p value = 0.004), and psychological symptom variable was the stronger predictor (ß standard = 0.53, p value = 0.0001).
 Conclusion: The wide spread of anxiety during COVID-19 lockdown is a warning to health educators and policy makers that significant time, attempt, and funding of the services for mental health should be spent to control anxiety.

Objectives This study aimed to predict the onset of Restrictive Anorexia Nervosa (AN-R) and identify influential symptom variables for treatment initiation.
 Methods We collected 333 comments from Korean YouTube videos related to eating disorders, focusing on AN-R. Through ChatGPT assessment, we extracted 1,210 symptomatic pieces of evidence, categorizing them into psychological, physical, behavioral, and social symptoms. Regression analysis at α=0.5 revealed a negative correlation between psychological and physical symptoms.
 Results Psychological symptoms were highest at the early onset of AN-R, gradually decreasing as physical symptoms emerged. Self-perception of symptom severity was primarily influenced by physical and social symptoms, especially appearance changes. Treatment initiation showed a positive correlation with appearance changes and a negative correlation with psychological symptoms.
 Conclusions Our findings confirm that AN-R onset can be predicted when physical symptoms appear after progressing psychological symptoms, highlighting the dominant influence of psychological symptoms in treatment initiation.

BackgroundPremenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is a very common problem with symptoms that can negatively affect normal daily life. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence of PMS symptoms and their relationship with psychosocial status and lifestyle of female students at An-Najah National University in Palestine. A sample of 398 female students was randomly selected to participate in the study. Arabic Premenstrual Scale (A-PMS) was used for PMS assessment. Psychosocial variables were determined using the DASS-21 Arabic version, and dietary habits were measured using a 24 item self-reported questionnaire. Data was analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Chi-square tests using SPSS software version 23.ResultsThe 398 participants (100%) suffered from some kind of PMS symptoms; 398 (100%) had physical symptoms, 397 (99.7%) had psychological symptoms, and 339 (85.2%) had behavioral PMS symptoms. All PMS symptoms were significantly associated with student psychosocial status (p < 0.01). Preferring a certain type of food during menstruation was significantly related to psychological PMS symptoms (p < 0.001), and physical symptoms (p < 0.01). Following a diet was significantly related to physical symptoms (p < 0.05) and behavioral symptoms (p < 0.001). Moreover, drinking herbal tea was significantly related to physical symptoms (p < 0.001) and behavioral symptoms (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe findings of the study revealed a relatively high prevalence of PMS syndrome with a significant relationship with dietary habits and psychosocial status.

Undergraduates are often looked upon as the next building blocks in a country’s economic growth and development. It is felt that with the growing body of knowledge and hectic pace of technology, the undergraduate student’s academic workload and academic stress are increasing. This increase in workload and stress can affect the undergraduate student’s mental health. There are limited studies in Malaysia focusing on academic workload and academic stress on the mental well-being among final year students at Taylor’s University School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts. The aim of this study is to research the relationship between academic workload and student mental health, the relationship between academic stress and student mental health and the perceived level of academic stress. Questionnaires were distributed to 201 final year students at Taylor’s University School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts. This study could support the university to review the curriculum and adjust the academic workload in order to reduce academic stress among university students. The results of this study hope to assist university management and students to recognise the relationships between academic stress caused by academic workload and student’s mental health in the Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts courses. Furthermore, students would realise how academic workload and stress can affect their mental health and recognise symptoms such as poor eating habits, insomnia, depression and suicidal tendencies as consequences of academic stress and encourage them to seek help from mental health professionals.

Medical students are exposed to increased stress due to academic, psycho-social and health-related factors. This study aimed to assess the levels of stress and the associations with socio-demographic characteristics and academic performance; the frequency of the major academic stressors; the most stressful factors as stated by the students themselves. A cross-sectional study including 110 international medical students of the 3rd-year was performed in the first two weeks of November 2019. A questionnaire including socio-demographic data, a list with potential academic stressors and an open question regarding the greatest stressors in student’s opinion as well as The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, was administrated in pen-andpaper format. Mild, moderate and severe levels of stress were found in 36.73%, 22.44 %, and 13.26 % of students, respectively. Increased levels of stress were associated with poor academic performance and did not correlate with age or country of origin. The frequency of moderate and severe stress was 3-times greater in women than in men. The most stressful factors in students’ opinion were the academic stressors (88.77%) followed by psychosocial factors (25.51%) and health-related factors (9.18%). The frequency of examination was perceived as a stressor always present by more than 25% of the students. Most of the students showed elevated levels of stress. Academic factors were the most important stressors in students’ opinion. Further research is needed to identify the proper strategy to rectify academicrelated problems to decrease the levels of stress.

To determine the contributions of different kinds of symptoms to the quality of life and mediating effect of psychological and physical symptoms between heart failure symptoms and quality of life. A multi-centre cross-sectional study. 2006 chronic heart failure patients from four cities were recruited in China from January 2021 to December 2022. Patients' symptoms and quality of life were self-reported, and data were analysed using correlation analysis, dominance analysis and mediating effects analysis. The dominance analysis revealed that the overall mean contributions of heart failure, psychological and physical symptoms were .083, .085 and .111; 29.5%, 30.2% and 39.5% of the known variance. And heart failure symptoms could negatively affect quality of life through psychological and physical symptoms, accounting for 28.39% and 22.95% of the total effect. Heart failure symptoms could also affect quality of life through the chain-mediated effect of physical and psychological symptoms, accounting for 16.74%. Physiological symptoms had the strongest effect on quality of life and heart failure symptoms had the weakest. Most of the effect for heart failure symptoms on quality of life in chronic heart failure patients was mediated by psychological and physiological symptoms. It is important to design non-pharmacological intervention plans for the enhancement of physical and psychological symptoms' management skills, to reduce the adverse impact of heart failure symptoms on quality of life. Study methods and results reported in adherence to the STROBE checklist. No patients or members of the public were involved in the study.

In today’s increasingly competitive academic landscape, students are under immense pressure to perform well. This pressure does not solely stem from academic demands but is significantly heightened by expectations from parents and society. As a result, university students' mental health has emerged as a critical global public health concern. This study aims to investigate the impact of stress and anxiety on students' mental health, with a specific focus on a group of students enrolled in a private university in the Punjab region of India. The research explores various dimensions of academic stress, emotional well-being, and how students cope with increasing demands in their educational environment. The study highlights that stress and anxiety among students are multifaceted issues influenced by academic workload, time constraints, performance expectations, and personal responsibilities. One of the key findings is that students often struggle with time management, leading to poor sleep patterns and difficulty balancing academic and extracurricular activities. These challenges contribute to a heightened sense of stress and fatigue, which, over time, negatively affects mental health. The survey data indicates that 21.8% of the participating students have been clinically diagnosed with a mental health disorder, a figure that underscores the severity of the problem. Moreover, the findings reveal that a significant number of students find it hard to relax, even during their leisure time. This inability to mentally disconnect from academic stress reflects chronic anxiety and constant psychological pressure. The research also shows that young students tend to become easily overwhelmed by responsibilities, particularly when these responsibilities involve managing coursework, meeting deadlines, and preparing for exams. Many of them report feeling emotionally drained and lacking the coping skills needed to manage these demands effectively. Despite these concerning trends, a major barrier to addressing student mental health is the prevailing social stigma around seeking psychological support. The fear of judgment or being perceived as weak prevents many students from reaching out for professional help, thereby compounding the issue. This reluctance not only delays necessary intervention but also allows stress and anxiety to escalate, leading to more serious mental health outcomes over time. The implications of these findings are significant. If left unaddressed, the high levels of stress and anxiety experienced by students can disrupt their academic performance, impair their social relationships, and hinder their overall personal development. Therefore, it is imperative that universities take proactive steps to address these challenges. The development and implementation of comprehensive mental health services—including counseling, stress management workshops, and awareness campaigns—are essential. Additionally, fostering a supportive campus environment where mental health is openly discussed and prioritized can help reduce stigma and encourage students to seek help when needed. In conclusion, the study sheds light on the critical need for educational institutions to recognize and respond to the mental health challenges faced by students. By addressing key risk factors and promoting mental well-being, universities can help students build resilience, enhance academic success, and support healthier developmental pathways for the youth. Keywords: Mental health, stress, anxiety, youth, psychosocial factors, intervention. Previous Deep Learning-Based Analysis of Crop Pathogen Using CNN

Objective: Attachment theory is a useful framework for understanding how caregiving dyads regulate emotions and maintain feelings of security in reaction to a loved one's chronic illness. In this study we examined the extent to which the attachment orientations (anxiety and avoidance) of persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their spousal caregivers were associated with each partner's report of the physical and psychological health symptoms of the person with AD. Method: Fifty-eight individuals with AD and their spousal caregivers each completed a 12-item self-report measure of trait attachment orientation and rated the physical and psychological health symptoms of the person with AD over the past two weeks. Data from the persons with AD were used after determining that they were able to provide reliable responses. Results: As predicted, individuals with AD who were high in anxious attachment self-reported more physical and psychological symptoms, particularly when their caregivers were high in anxious attachment. Also, caregivers perceived more physical symptoms in individuals with AD who were high in avoidant attachment. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of considering the attachment security of both caregivers and persons with AD when considering how each partner views the psychological and physical health symptoms of the person with AD. Our results have implications for providing care-recipients and caregivers with improved, tailored care.

Socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent health 2002–2010: a time-series analysis of 34 countries participating in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study

Generations of pharmacists.