SURVEY STUDY FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF VARIOUS STRESSORS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS OF THE ISLAMIA UNIVERSITY OF BAHAWALPUR, PAKISTAN

Purpose of Study: This study aimed to assess the factors that caused stress in female students and student’s preference to overcome the stress.

Study Design: An interviewed based cross-sectional study was conducted at different departments among the female students of The Islamia University Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Sample size of the study was 100. Only chi square test was used. Only female students were preferred.

Results: Majority of students, 65% were between the age group of 18-21 years and 35% were between the ages 22-24 years. Among all the students 59% were hostilities and 41% were day scholars. Most of the students were from BEMS department (36%), BHMS department (33%) and from Pharmacy department (31%). According to percentage distribution, out of 100 students almost 50% suffered from mood swings while majority of them felt lack of concentration due to stress. Most of students found themselves thinking about problems and complained of having no time to spend with their family. All age group students considered hostel life to be a burden and almost half of students were sometimes connected with social media to get rid of stress. Almost 50% students believed that campus environment benefitted them to lower their stress and majority of students responded that social media increased their stress. Many students felt fatigued due to stress even after waking up after adequate sleep and they felt loneliness and homesickness. Some students managed their stress by connecting to social media. Stress affected daily life of either hostellites as well as day scholars in one way or the other.

Study Limitations: Data was collected from just one university that reduced the power of the study.

Practical implications: This study could be helpful in ruling out the stressors and ways to manage the stress in order to overcome the impact of stress on educational and personal life of the students.