The effectiveness of stress management training given to first-class health major students in perceiving and coping with stress and developing resilience: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Stress management plays a vital role in protecting students' mental health. Effective stress management helps them to recognize sources of stress and cope with the problems caused by stress, helping them to become more mentally resilient in the long run. This study was a pretest–posttest randomized controlled psychoeducational intervention in which the effect of stress management training given to first-class health major students on their perceived stress, coping methods and psychological resilience was examined. The study was conducted with 102 associate degree first-class health major students, 51 intervention, and 51 control. Intervention group received stress management training consisting of seven modules for 7 weeks. No intervention was given to the control group. Data were collected using sociodemographic form, perceived stress scale, stress coping methods scale, and short psychological resilience scale. Pre-test and post-tests were administered to both groups. In the analysis of within-group differences of the intervention group, there was a significant decrease in perceived stress scores and a significant increase in coping methods and psychological resilience scores. Between the groups, there was a significant difference in the post-test scores of the intervention group compared to the control group. In the Covariance analysis in which the pre-test effect was controlled, it was determined that the effect of the stress management training on the perceived stress level of the students was 22.1% (large effect), the effect on coping methods with stress was 5.1% (medium effect), and the effect on psychological resilience was 22.6% (large effect) in favor of the intervention group. As a result, stress management training given to health major students decreased their perceived stress levels, improved their coping methods with stress, and increased psychological resilience levels.