A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF ACADEMIC STRESSORS IN UNIVERSITY PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENTS

Abstract

 Objective: to find out the evolution of the student's perception of academic stressors during the development of the physiotherapy degree course. Material and method: a longitudinal descriptive study was carried out. The data was obtained using the questionnaire in paper format, by means of the Academic Stressor Subscale (E-CEA) included in the Academic Stress Questionnaire. The repeated measures statistical procedure Anova MR was used to compare means between courses. Results: the study sample consisted of 264 students enrolled in the Faculty of Physiotherapy of the University of Vigo between the academic years 2009-10 and 2014-15, resulting in a participation rate of 66.33%. The results determined that between the first and second year, the perception of academic stressors remained stable, except for the factors Interventions in public, which decreased and Poor social relations in the academic context together with Lack of value of the contents, which increased. Between the second and third years, most of the stressors decreased, except for Exams, Lack of value of content and Poor social relations, which remained stable. Finally, between third and fourth year, all stressors decreased, except Impossibility of participation in academic decisions, which remained unchanged. Conclusion: it can be said that the perception of academic stressors varies between academic years, highlighting that the general rule is that academic stressors lose effect as students' progress through the degree course, especially in the third and especially in the fourth year.