Perception of academic stress among Health Science Preparatory Program students in two Saudi universities

• Published in: Advances in medical education and practice 2018-01, Vol.9, p.159-164
• Main Authors: Alsulami, Saleh, Al Omar, Zaid, Binnwejim, Mohammed S, Alhamdan, Fahad, Aldrees, Amr, Al-Bawardi, Abdulkarim, Alsohim, Meshary, Alhabeeb, Mohammed
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ACADEMIC STRESS; Careers; College preparatory programs; College students; COMPETITION; Curricula; Education; Educational aspects; Health aspects; Health sciences; HSPP; Islamic schools; Medical schools; Medical students; Medicine; Original Research; Participation; Perceptions; Psychological aspects; SAAS SCORE; Science education; Stress; Stress (Psychology); STRESS MEDIATORS; Students; Studies; Teaching
• ISSN: 1179-7258; 1179-7258
• DOI: 10.2147/AMEP.S143151

The Health Science Preparatory Program (HSPP) is a special program that aims to enhance the educational preparedness of students for participation in a health sciences career. Students spend their first university year in a combined extensive teaching program before they can be assigned to a particular health science specialty. It is thought that students enrolled in a highly competitive environment such as HSPP with a long list of potential stressors, including developmental, academic overload, language barriers and competition, are more disposed to stress and stress-related complications. This study aims to measure the level of academic stress and to determine its risk factors in students enrolled in HSPP-adapted local universities in Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted at two Saudi universities, King Saud University (KSU) and Imam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSU) with competition-based and non-competition-based HSPP learning models, respectively. Both universities adopt the HSPP system. The scale for assessing academic stress (SAAS) was used to assess students' perceived stress. A total of 290 students successfully completed the questionnaire (N=290), with a mean age of 18.66 years. Mean SAAS scores for KSU and IMSU students were 8.37 (SD = 4.641) and 7.97 (SD = 5.104), =0.480, respectively. Only "satisfaction" and "associated social and health problems" have shown statistically significant correlation with university ( =0.000 and =0.049, respectively). This study has found mean SAAS score for two local universities with competition-based versus non-competition-based HSPP learning models. Academic stress correlation with age, gender and universities was discussed, and valuable future work guidance was recommended.