School Stress Level of Nursing Student in SULU

Abstract

This study explores the stress levels and coping mechanisms of nursing students in Sulu. Using a quantitative, descriptive-correlational approach, we surveyed 190 students—evenly split between private institutions (Notre Dame of Jolo College and Southwestern Mindanao Islamic Institute) and public ones (Sulu State College and Mindanao State University-Sulu). Through a custom-built questionnaire, we measured their stress across academic, environmental, and clinical (Related Learning Experience or RLE) settings, as well as how well they adapt to these pressures. Our findings paint a clear picture: nursing students face high stress in their academic work and daily environments, but they experience extremely high stress during their clinical learning experiences. Despite these significant pressures, the students still showed a slightly high ability to adapt. When we looked deeper into what influences this adaptation, our statistical model found a significant link (p = 0.002). While we tested eight different demographic and environmental factors, only three stood out as strong predictors of how well a student adapts: the type of school they attend (p = 0.006), their gender (p = 0.009), and the amount of stress they face at home (p = 0.009). Together, our model explains about 13% of the variance in how these students handle stress.