Perceived Stress Levels and Stress Management Among...

Perceived Stress Levels and Stress Management Among Paramedical Students Lyceum of the Philippines University: Towards Stress Management Enhancement Maribel D. Mayuga-Barrion, DDM, MAT It is recognized that stress is a normally occurring part of life. Selye was the first to describe the term stress as a state produced within an organism subjected to a stimulus perceived as a threat (Selye, 1957). He spoke of stress as a condition that occurs commonly in response to any adaptive response within the body. He defined stress as . . . a state manifested by a specific syndrome which consists of all the nonspecifically induced changes within a biologic system (Selye, 1950). In other words, stress can refer to a wide range of physiological†¦show more content†¦Very little research has been done to find out what college students are doing about these high levels of stress. An equally modest amount of research has been done to learn how effective are the techniques used by college stu dents to reduce stress levels. Stress on college campuses is high, but students may not be aware of more effective ways to reduce stress. For example, in a recent review of literature of substance use and abuse (Prendergast, 2004) reported that college students are more likely to drink and to drink at high levels than are young adults who are not in college. The means for relaxing may be temporarily effective for reducing stress levels, but there are consequences associated with regular drinking that are not always desirable (Fromme Rivet, 2004). Existing research provides limited information on stress and its management among college students. Accurate information regarding stress, its primary sources and effective ways to deal with it specific to college students would allow university health educators, counseling centers, and student wellness centers to target specific need areas more effectively on campuses across the country. Dental students often report high levels of stress. Even though many studies have been conducted on this issue, we still lack a global understanding of how dental students experience and deal with stress, making it difficult for dental educators to improve