PREVALENCE OF ACADEMIC STRESS AMONG MEDICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL STUDENTS

Abstract

Prevalence of academic stress among university students has been high across the world. Most studies on such topic have been conducted in limited population, particularly in the students of medical faculty and the publicly secular-based university. The present study was carried out on students at the department of medicine and department of pharmacy, the Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Indonesia. This study was aimed to describe the level of academic stress prevalence among the students as well as its difference based on demographics, including department, gender, and previous education backgrounds. This study involved 72 students as participants. The results indicated that the prevalence of academic stress reached 61% in the medical students and 48.4% in the pharmaceutical students. Meanwhile, there were no significant differences in the level of prevalence in terms of department, gender, and educational background ( P > .05). Academic stress was experienced by the students of various departments, from the differing previous education background, i.e., the Public Senior High School ( Sekolah Menengah Atas ), Islamic Senior High School ( Madrasah Aliyah ), and Islamic Boarding School ( Pesantren ), both the males and females. A high prevalence of academic stress among students at the Islamic university should draw more attention and call for special intervention from the unit of guidance and counseling service. Article visualizations: