Relationship between Clinical Education Stressors and Coping Strategies in Paramedic Students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences

Clinical education is an essential element in the education of medical students. One of the problems students face in clinical education is stress. Students choose a variety of strategies to overcome clinical stresses. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between stressors of clinical education and coping strategies.

In this descriptive study, the population of the study was Hamedan Paramedical Students in 1396 who were studied by census method. The information was evaluated using the Stress Factor Questionnaires of Clinical Education and coping strategies for stressful endlerparer. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, correlation analysis and nonparametric equilibrium analysis of variance.

In this study, students' stress was higher than average in all stressful areas except educational environment. The problem-oriented strategy had the highest score among the coping strategies. Among the domains of stressors among paramedical students, interpersonal communication had a direct and significant relationship with all three coping strategies (p <0.05). In addition, there was no significant relationship between students' major and coping strategies (p = 0.083), while there was a significant relationship between students' interest in their field of study and problem-oriented strategy (p-value <0.001).

The clinical education environment is a stressful environment for the paramedical students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences. Students usually use problem-oriented strategies to cope with the stresses of interpersonal communication, unpleasant emotions, and clinical experiences, while choosing avoidant strategies to reduce stress from the educational environment.