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Stress Management Techniques in Graduate Students

Nick Druzinski, Galileo Basilio, Peter Wallace, and Jesse Vallera


Touro University Nevada

Introduction
Stress is defined as a state of mental or emotional strain resulting from adverse or very
demanding circumstances (Vattano, 1978). In particular, studies have shown that graduate
students tend to experience high levels of stress throughout their programs. This study looked at
the coping techniques and strategies graduate students use to lower their levels of stress. Our
research question was, How would individual cohort members deal with an experience that
causes them stress? More specifically, What reasons does the participant have for engaging in
these activities? The impact of stress on graduate students ability to cope is of concern both for
the students academic coursework and overall health.
Methodology
The purpose of this qualitative study (phenomenological) was to discover the stress
management strategies used to cope with stress for graduate students. Phenomenology was used
because this study explained one or more students experiences of a specific phenomenon, in our
case, stresses with graduate school. Each student experienced individual stressors and events that
caused them to use certain coping techniques.
Six participants were involved in the study, including five females and one male. The age of
participants ranged from age 22 to 32 years of age. The participants were randomly selected from
a pool of 32 occupational therapy students at Touro University Nevada (TUN). More participant
information can be found in a demographics table see appendix A.
Recruitment Method
Participants were randomly recruited from a pool of 32 occupational therapy graduate
students in cohort 2016 at TUN. The pool of 32 students ranged in age from 22 to 47, with 30
women and two men. The six participants were randomly selected by putting each member of the
cohorts name into a hat and selecting six participants out of the hat. Out of the six participants
selected zero refused, and six people completed the study. All six participants said they

experienced stress as a graduate student, and were informed about the study before interviews
were conducted. Verbal consent was obtained for all participants before interviews were
conducted. Participants were assured that their confidentiality would be maintained and that any
identifying information would be altered to protect that confidentiality.
Data Collection
In-depth interviews were conducted on January 12, 2015. Two interviewers conducted
the interview with an individual participant. Out of the two interviewers, one interviewer asked
both open and closed ended questions and the other transcribed the participants responses. Data
was transcribed via typing the data into a word document. Individual interviews were conducted
because understanding other peoples stress and coping skills are best understood by listening to
individual participant responses and experiences. According to Law and MacDermid (2013),
qualitative research can enrich our understanding of clinical phenomenon. Its further implied
that other methods of data collection would not provide the detailed information that interviews
provide. The duration of each interview was dependent on how willing participants were to share
their opinions and experiences. Interviews were conducted in a semi-structured manner using a
list of six or seven questions developed by the researchers. Participants were asked six questions
pertaining to healthy coping techniques, and seventh question was asked if their coping
techniques were unhealthy. Most of the questions were open-ended questions with two being
closed-ended, see appendix B.
Transcribing and Coding Data
Open coding was conducted throughout the study. Open coding involved reading
transcripts line-by-line and identifying the concepts within the data. The two interviewers went
through each set of answers and identified similar themes throughout each participant. Upon
completion, axial coding was used to organize the concepts and find meaning within the data.

When the group finished organizing all of the concepts, we proceeded to examine meaning
behind the concepts. The significance of the data indicated that graduate students experience
stress throughout the curriculum and use a combination of positive and negative coping
strategies. In the second question, a scale from one to ten was used, one being the least stressed
and ten being the most stressed. The scores ranged from five to nine, with the average being
seven. This average score indicated that students are experiencing high levels of stress. When
asked about this scale, students were confused about whether they were being asked how
stressed they were at that time or overall. We had to clarify the question by saying that the scale
was based on how the students were feeling overall, throughout the entire curriculum. The next
three interview questions centered on stress management techniques and why these techniques
were chosen. Some of the common themes for positive stress management techniques included:
physical exercise, meditation, maintaining balance (school & social) and breathing techniques.
According to Vattano (1978), meditation has been shown to decrease stress and anxiety levels
within graduate students. Some common themes for negative coping included: gambling,
drinking, procrastinating, and failing to dedicate time to find positive coping strategies.
Participants offered comments such as:
Even when I try a new technique, I always end up falling back to my old patterns because I tend
to be a procrastinator.
Watching television during the week and going out on the weekends takes my mind off school.
As expected, there was a combination of students who used healthy and unhealthy coping
techniques. Furthermore, one student stated, These may be unhealthy strategies, but they got me
through the first semester just fine. These comments indicated that each student understood how
they maximally function, so if they dont experience any hardships or stress while using negative

coping skills, they should continue to use these strategies. When asked what other
strategies/techniques they could think of, many students stated physical exercise as a positive
coping strategy. One participant stated, I would like to start running every day, working out, or
doing yoga to reduce my stress levels.
Member Checking and Triangulation
Our group performed member checking with each participant. Individual meetings were
carried out to evaluate the participants feedback to make sure the interview answers were valid.
Two group members sat in on these member check meetings. Every question was read to the
participants and then the group asked them to summarize their responses. This method was used
to show the credibility of each participants answers. Once member checking was complete,
triangulation was done. All of the participants responses were very similar, making it easy to
create themes and sub-themes for each question. However, when there were multiple responses
for a single question, the group came together and chose the theme that we all thought was the
most important.
Literature Review
Increasing stress levels within graduate students has continued to be an issue within
academia and impeding students level to learn. Finding stress management techniques is
important for students to help manage their stress levels. According to Happell, Dwyer, ReidSearl, Burke, Caperchione, and Gaskin (2013), positive coping skills are needed in order to
prevent emotional and physical burnout. For students in graduate school, as previously stated,
stress levels are elevated throughout the curriculum. This was further supported by the study
done by Pfeifer, Kranz & Scoggins (2008) indicated that out of 29 OT graduate students, 66%
indicated a stress level that was above average. Many of the positive stress managements
techniques examined within this study were related to exercise or social support. Results

indicated that more than 50% of students used exercise and 83% used social supports as means to
cope with stress (Pfeifer, Kranz, & Scoggins, 2008). Furthermore, the study conducted by
Mitchell and Kampfe (1990) suggested that students who implemented problem solving
strategies such as actively seeking social support had overall better health and were more likely
to engage in healthier coping strategies. The results of these studies coincide with the findings
within our research because seeking social support was a common theme within our study.
Avoidance strategies were examined and the results indicated that those who engaged in
this type of strategy had higher levels of overall stress which is indicative of what our study
found. As mentioned earlier, one of the comments mentioned was, Watching television during
the week and going out on the weekends takes my mind off school. This participant had the
highest stress score out of all six participants with a score of nine. Positive coping techniques
like meditation, not only help reduce a persons stress and anxiety levels but also influence other
functions in the body. Meditation can cause shifts in mental processes and alertness which can
produce deep rest and restoration of physiological and psychological functioning (Vattano,
1978).
Discussion
There is a strong relationship between leading a graduate school lifestyle and the amount
of stress it brings in students lives. Graduate school creates numerous stressors that can be
expressed into positive or negative ways and therefore tend to shift the dynamic of students
lifestyles. In this study, we investigated the coping techniques used when dealing with graduate
students. Overall, each coping strategy was necessary to bring balance into their lives. There
were a variety of strategies that were unique to each individual. Participants in this study used
positive, negative and a combination of various coping methods. By maintaining these positive

techniques, students can increase their self-esteem, confidence and determination to continue to
achieve a high-level of academic performance.
Several aspects in this study are specific, thus there is certain bias that is not
representative to the overall population. First, the study was limited because the population was
only Touro Occupational Therapy students in the class of 2016. Another limitation was gender
because the study only had one male graduate student and five female graduate students, and we
would like to see if these coping strategies have more balance for the males. Many of the stress
relievers used within this study (for example physical exercise, yoga, etc.) are found to be
financially costly, limiting students abilities to engage in these stress management techniques.
Furthermore, time is a factor because if there are papers, projects or tests, then there will be less
time to use these coping strategies effectively. Future research can be expanded upon in regards
to limitations for our current study. Due to the small sample size used in this study, definitive
conclusions cannot be drawn. The results, however, seem to be worthy of further study. A larger
sample size, gender balance, and expanding this population to other graduate programs would
allow the study of potential relationships among these variables. Using these would also help to
eliminate any bias.

References
Happell, B., Dwyer, T., Reid-Searl, K., Burke, K. J., Caperchione, C. M., & Gaskin, C. J. (2013).
Nurses and stress: recognizing causes and seeking solutions. Journal of Nursing
Management, 21(4), 638-647. doi:10.1111/jonm.12037
Law, M., & MacDermid, J. (2013). Evidence-based rehabilitation. A guide to practice. (3rd
ed.). Thorofare, NJ: Slack, Inc.
Mitchell, M. M., & Kampfe, C. M. (1990). Coping strategies used by occupational therapy
students during fieldwork: An exploratory study. American Journal of Occupational
Therapy, 44(6), 543-550. doi:10.5014/ajot.44.6.543.
Pfeifer, T. A., Kranz, P. L., & Scoggin, A. E. (2008). Perceived stress in occupational therapy
students.Occupational Therapy International, 15(4), 221-231. doi: 10.1002/oti.256.
Vattano, A.J. (1978). Self-management procedures for coping with stress. Social Work, 23 (2),
113.

Appendix A (Demographic Information)


Ages

20s

83.3%

30s

16.7%

Male

16.7%

Female

83.3%

Caucasian

83.3%

Hispanic

16.7%

Single

83.3%

Married

16.7%

Gender

Ethnic Origin

Marital Status

Appendix B (Interview Questions)


1. Do you experience stress as a graduate student?
2. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being low levels and 10 being high levels) how stressed are you?
3. What are your stress management techniques to cope with the stress?
4. Why do you choose to use these techniques?
5. Do you consider your strategies to be healthy or unhealthy?
6. Why do you continue to participate in this technique (if unhealthy)?
7. Can you think of any other stress management techniques that may be beneficial for
coping with stress?

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