Enhancing Stress Resilience: A Study on Stress Management Strategies among Students at Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

The study investigated stress management among students of Delta State University Abraka, Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The target population which served as sample of the study comprised 982 final year students of the faculty of education and faculty of social sciences. There was no sampling since the population was manageable. An 88-item questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The questionnaire contained two parts: part A had 4 items of demographic variables of respondents – Name of faculty, department, sex and age. Part B contained 85 items based on the three Research Questions: 1 contained 34 items, 2 contained 27 items and 3 contained 24 items. The questionnaire was structured on a 4-point scale of responses: Very High Extent 4-points, High Extent 3-points, Low Extent 2-points, Very Low Extent 1-point. There was face and content validity of the instrument. To ensure internal consistency of the instrument, 155 copies of the questionnaire were administered to final year students at the Kwara State University, Malete. The data collected were subjected to Cronbach alpha which yielded the following reliability coefficient results: 1(r=0.93), 2(r=0.90) and 3(r=0.88). A total of 1024 copies of the questionnaire were administered. 982 copies were fully completed and returned giving a 91.32% rate of return. The study took a period of six weeks. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviations. All the findings are to a High Extent for causes of stress, effect of stress and stress management strategies among students of Delta State University, Abraka. Among the stress management strategies identified are learning security, adequate counselling services and avoiding of unnecessary competitions. It was recommended among others that students workload should be reduced, universities should give students access to free periodic medical examination, student should be involved in decision making and government should aid the universities to provide adequate learning facilities to reduce stress.