Student stress in a speech, language and hearing sciences undergraduate course

ABSTRACT

Objective  To verify the prevalence and factors associated with the presence of stress in students of a Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences course.

Methods  105 students participated, over 18 years old, of both sexes, enrolled in the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences course at a Federal University. Students who were not active during participation in the research were excluded. All respond to a sociodemographic questionnaire and Lipp's Stress Symptoms Inventory, which identifies the symptoms of stress, as well as their s—pecific phase and the predominant symptoms. The data received statistical treatment being stipulated the significance level of 5%.

Results  77.1% showed results suggestive of stress, of which 77.7% were in the “resistance” phase, 18.5% in the “almost exhaustion”; 2.5% in the “alarm”; and 1.2% in the “exhaustion”. As for the symptomatology, 64.2% had a predominance of psychological symptoms, 18.5% physical, and 17.3% physical and psychological. The statistical analysis showed a significantly higher presence of stress among women and among those who do not work, and a relationship between stress and the study year.

Conclusion  A high number of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences students with stress, was identified, with the “resistance” phase as the most frequent and the prevalence of psychological symptoms. The factors associated with stress were gender, which presented greater damages among women, the fact that students do not engage in paid work, and the year of the course they were enrolled. The first year had the lowest prevalence of stress, while the last year had the highest result.

Keywords:  Stress physiological; Mental health; Health promotion; Education higher; Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences