• Subject Code : HLSC122
  • Subject Name : Nursing

Does Stress Affect Academic Performance in University Students?

Introduction

Going to university is an influentially major transition in life, for many, it involves moving away from homes, and thus the increase in independency levels and new choices. ( Lovell, G. P., et al (2015). Transfer into a new physical or social environment, brings upon new relationships, financial demands, and many expectations may bring psychological distress. Many studies have shown that the increasing level of stress among university students surpasses that of the same age non-University students of the same population (Papier, et al (2015). Stress can emerge from many sources such as academic pressures of meeting certain grades, test-taking, the capacity of the materials to be learned and, time management (Beiter, R., et al. (2015). More solid evidence proving that stress can affect an individual’s health, Academics, and the dysphoria associated with it is likely to lead to less activity.

The following essay will consider primary research (Papier, K., et al (2015) and how it applies to the clinical question. The following essay will identify the advantages and disadvantages of important sections in the study. This essay will be divided into two parts, with part A answering the question of Authors’ expertise based on their cited credentials and affiliations, research questions, research design, research methods, and finally the results and limitations of the above research study. Part B will constitute of the enablers and barriers as in the results of the research study and its relation to the case scenario stress in university students and the clinical question does stress affect the academic performance in university students.

Authorship

The research study( Papier, K., et al (2015) contains four authors, with the following credentials; A bachelor of Epidemiology and population health from the Australian National University, Queensland Institute of medical research in Australia, Griffith University, Australia, Griffith Health Institute, Australia. The qualified authors are the main advantage of the study as they contributed immensely to the success of the study. With the cited credentials of the authors and their qualifications with their different affiliated universities, it is concluded that the study is effective. A conflict of interest is the trustworthy questions about the physician, researchers, and also medical institutions (Field, M. J., et al (2009). where colleagues, patients, and students need to trust that the researcher's decisions about something were not compromised. These trust issues may harm the study. In the research study ( Papier, K., et al (2015) The authors had no conflict of interest to declare.

Research Questions and Justification

In the research study (Papier, K., et al (2015) the researchers try to find out “Stress and Dietary behaviors among first-year students" at the university in Australia. The authors also discuss academics and their impacts to stress in their study, to examine the relationship between stress and diet among undergraduate students in Australian Universities. The justification of the research is found in the introduction where stress is confirmed to affect someone's health behaviors, several studies from 1986 to 2000 have found that there is a strong relationship between stress and poor academic performance, (Akgun, S., & Ciarrochi, J. (2003). Also, it was noted that a high level of academic stress was a result of low performances. In conclusion, academic performances have a detrimental effect on university student's academic performances.

Research Design

The researcher used a cross-sectional research design which is an observational research design that samples a population at a given time, it does not involve experiments. To collect data from undergraduate students studying at Griffith University, Australia (Papier, K., et al (2015). The selection based on the largest numbers of international students, since Griffith University had 5 different campuses. The choice of the observational design was appropriate for the aim of the study, as the research wanted to collect data from students in a university. However, the authors did not clearly explain the important reasons for choosing the cross-sectional design. The design may also bring upon many sources of biasness in deciding which campus has the highest number of international students and also the campuses that took place in the study.

Research Methods

A total of 728 first-year students, consisting of 331 males and 397 females from the four different campuses of Griffith University participated in the research with the research being approved by the University’s human resource ethics committee. The authors secured the informed consent as they informed the students of the exercise and a questionnaire that was self-administered distributed to interested students. The response rate of the students to the study was high. The detailed and well-explained data collection and analysis methods were one of the strengths of the study, as its questionnaire comprises three sections; the socio demography part, the stress assessment part, and the dietary intake. Also, the study's data were adjusted for potential confounders so that it can accommodate factors such as living situations, reading, and working hours, deploying statistical methods such as Mann Whitney tests in the comparison between the food intake between males and females.

Research Limitations

The research study (Papier, K., et al (2015). uncovers three findings, first, it was found that more than a half of the university students suffered from some stress with more females than males, secondly, all the stressed males and female student consumed less healthy foods compared to the unstressed ones, the last finding of the study was there was different in food selections between stressed male and females in the stressed thus being a more predictor in food selection among male stressed students. Research studies such as (Lovell, G. P., et al. (2015).

Reveals that student present with poor psychological distress thus suggesting that there is heavy pressure of university on student stresses and logically same behaviors among other countries, the authors also noted that if we continue to moderate-severe levels of stress may lead to functional impairment with an adverse effect on their physical and mental health also on the academic attainments. However, the study authors (Papier, K., et al (2015) cited some limitations of the study its cross-sectional design makes it more complicated to determine the causal effects of stress on dietary behavior on both males and females. It did not explore other possible factors that can determine unhealthy food selection among university students. This brought a negative impact on the provision of special information for future and disease risk calculations.

Enablers and Barriers

It is highly recommended that the study (Papier, K., et al (2015) could be considered in a case scenario of Chooseya a first-year international student who has academic stress due to the pressure to meet certain grades. As the study may have more power to determine that stress affects the academic performances of university students. A student can stress due to many academic stressors such as; academic performances, financial reasons, and also health reasons (Siraj, H. H., et al (2014). Which finds out the main stressor as academic performances, there was no negative correlation between academic performances and stress levels of students since higher academic performances can be achieved even with high-stress levels if the student can manage his stress well? The study also recommends that other authors should a window for comprehensively using of personal development and activities of the university students to cope up with the academic matters and also confidence among students in classrooms and also in the society. To learn how to manage stress, potential barriers may include decision making in tough circumstances, interfaith discussions, breaking bad news in some university setups.

Conclusion

The critical appraisal of the research study (Papier, K., et al (2015) and (Siraj, H. H., et al (2014) can be concluded that both authors selected an important topic, with few studies relating to the subject matter. Many limitations were declared, the study also lacked measurement bias because of its research designs and also the way its samples were selected and also they included human ethical approvals. Nevertheless (Siraj, H. H., et al (2014) concluded its qualifies authors and also its statistical analysis methods with detailed analysis on university students’ academic performances. The studies did acknowledge their problems and also provided room for further interventions to prove is stress can affect the academic performances of the university students,

References

Lovell, G. P., Nash, K., Sharman, R., & Lane, B. R. (2015). A cross‐sectional investigation of depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms and health‐behavior participation in Australian university students. Nursing & health sciences, 17(1), 134-142.

Papier, K., Ahmed, F., Lee, P., & Wiseman, J. (2015). Stress and dietary behavior among first-year university students in Australia: sex differences. Nutrition, 31(2), 324-330.

Beiter, R., Nash, R., McCrady, M., Rhoades, D., Linscomb, M., Clarahan, M., & Sammut, S. (2015). The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students. Journal of affective disorders, 173, 90-96.

Akgun, S., & Ciarrochi, J. (2003). Learned resourcefulness moderates the relationship between academic stress and academic performance. Educational Psychology, 23(3), 287-294.

Field, M. J., & Lo, B. (Eds.). (2009). Conflict of interest in medical research, education, and practice. National Academies Press.

Siraj, H. H., Salam, A., Roslan, R., Hasan, N. A., Jin, T. H., & Othman, M. N. (2014). Stress and its association with the academic performance of undergraduate fourth-year medical students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The International Medical Journal Malaysia, 13(1), 19-24.

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Nursing Assignment Help

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