Relationships between Academic Stress and Socio-demographic data among Nursing Students during COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Academic stress refers to any academic demands (e.g., environmental, social, or internal demands) that effect in student behavior. Learning and examination, performance competition, especially mastering much knowledge in a short time, would lead to different degrees of academic pressure. Although all planned courses have been affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, online learning still leaves college students with the same academic burden as usual. Aims of the study: this research aimed to assess the academic stress among nursing students, and to assess the relationship between academic stress and Socio-demographic data among Nursing Students. Methodology: this study conducted by using a quantitative descriptive design during the period of 10 / October / 2020 to 2 / July / 2021, The sampling method was applied in this study using a non-probability purposive method, and 237 undergraduate nursing students were selected of nursing colleges at three Iraqi universities. A two parts questionnaire was used to fulfill the study objectives. The first part includes student’s socio-demographic information, and the second part contains the Academic Stress Inventory Scale to assess the academic stress level. Results: The result indicated that about (70%) of students experienced a moderate level of academic stress whereas; about (25.3%) had severe academic stress and also about (4.6%) had low academic stress. Conclusion: Because academic stress and nursing students were significantly correlated in this study, academic stress is a critical issue that requires close attention to minimize the expected impact on student academic performance. Recommendations: it is important to raise awareness of faculty members about the alarming level of stress among students to help them find new ways of supporting their students