Identifying strategies for stress self-management of pharmacy students at Nguyen Tat Thanh University

Background:Stress in health science has been studied extensively. Pharmacy students have higher prevalence of stress than other health profession students. Stress has detrimental effects on students’ health and their academic performance. Coping strategies are specific efforts that individuals employ to manage stress. Objectives: This study is aimed to identify coping strategies for stress self-management of pharmacy students at Nguyen Tat Thanh University to suggest some strategies to improve teaching quality, learning environment, and consulting work. Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted on 436 pharmacy students from years of admission 2014 to 2018. Coping strategies were assessed using a validated questionnaire. Results:“always” is the highest stress frequency. However, the lowest rate, slightly more than a quarter, was of the Y2017 student population (25,6%) and had the highest percentage at 33.7% for Y2015 students. The results showed that Problem Solving and Cognitive Restructuring were employed mostly whereas motional expression was the least common solution for stress management of Pharmacy students of Nguyen Tat Thanh University.