Perceived Academic Stress, Causes, and Coping Strategies Among Undergraduate Pharmacy Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: Academic stress is a common problem among medical students, and the COVID-19 health crisis lockdown further worsened it. High academic stress has a negative impact on students learning and overall performance. OBJECTIVE: To assess perceived academic stress, causes, and coping strategies among undergraduate pharmacy students during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate pharmacy students at the University of Khartoum. Data were collected from randomly selected participants using three validated self-administered questionnaires; perceived stress scale, study habits inventory, and mental health inventory. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, and descriptive statistics and chi-square were employed. RESULTS: The response rate in our study was 99.6% (251/252). About 87% of the participants were females. The majority of participants (92%) experience academic stress, with a mean score (24.99 ± 5.159), the level of academic stress ranging from low (4.3%), moderate (73.2%), to high (22.5%). Approximately 80% of the percipients reported academic stress during all exam times with a mean score (25.33 ± 4.976). The level of academic stress was significantly associated with participants’ gender (P-value: 0.042), and living conditions (P-value: 0.001). The most common factors that were significantly associated with academic stress were difficulty in remembering all that is studied (66.7%, P=0.006) and worrying about the exams (54.1%, P=0.011). Moreover, the most frequent strategies used to cope with academic stress were praying (84.4%) and maintaining some control over the situation (61.9%). CONCLUSION: The study revealed a high prevalence of academic stress among percipients. Academic counseling, monitoring of mental status, and implementation of stress reduction programs are highly recommended.