Causes of stress and coping strategies adopted by undergraduate health professions students in a university in the United Arab Emirates

الملخص EN

Objectives : This study aimed to compare causes of stress and coping strategies adopted by a sample of undergraduate health-profession students at the Gulf Medical University, United Arab Emirates.

Methods : An anonymous voluntary questionnaire-based survey was conducted, from January to July 2011, among first- and second-year medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and physiotherapy students (N = 212) to identify causes of stress.

Coping strategies were studied using the Brief COPE Inventory.

Results : Worries regarding the future (54.2 %) and parental expectations (40.1 %) were the major stressors.

Poor diet (36.8 %) and a lack of exercise (36.3 %) were also reported to cause stress.

Students used multiple strategies, mainly religion / praying (74.5 %), planning (70.5 %) and taking action (70.5 %) to cope with stress.

There were no significant differences observed in the stressors or coping strategies between genders or programmes.

First-year students (62.5 %) relied on emotional support significantly more (P < 0.05) than second-year students (48.5 %).

Conclusion: The main causes of stress were worries regarding future and parental expectations.

The majority of the students used positive coping strategies, with religion / praying found to be the most frequently used strategy.