Academic Stress and Coping Strategies Among Students With Disabilities in Addis Ababa University
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Date
2011-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The main aim of this study was to examine the level of academic stress and the nature of
coping strategies used by university students with various disabilities. The research design
used was qualitative survey. One hundred and seventeen students with various disabilities,
who were drawn using simple random sampling, participated in the study and 103 students
without disability were also participated for comparisons. Data were collected using
General Academic Stress Scale, Specific Academic Stress Scale, Disability Specific
Academic Stress Scale and Academic Stress Coping Strategies Scale. The instruments were
administered individually. Descriptive statistics, such as mean and standard deviation were
used for each group to analyze The level of academic stress and coping strategies used.
comparisons were made among and between groups on the level of academic stress and the
types of coping strategies they employed. The result showed that, students with disabilities
and without disabilities experienced moderate level of academic stress and used mostly
problem focused coping strategies to deal with their academic stress. Though, students with
disabilities together did not significantly differ from students without disabilities on
academic stress, students with visual impairments as a group had significantly higher level
of academic Stress than students without disabilities. Further, it was observed that, students
with visual impairments experienced significantly higher level of academic stress than
students with hearing impairments and students with motor disabilities. Significant
difference was also observed be/ween students with disabilities and students without disabilities on using emotion focused coping strategy, In which, students with hearing
impairments used the strategy significantly higher than students without disabilities as well as students with visual impairments and motor disabilities. In the contrary, the difference observed between students with disabilities together and students without disabilities on using problem focused coping strategy was significant. Generally it is concluded that,
students with visual impairments had significantly higher level of academic stress than students with other types of disabilities as well as students without disabilities and all the
sampled groups as almost equally used problem focused coping strategy to deal with Their academic stress. Based on the findings, recommendations were put forth for further accommodations and supports to be provided for students with disabilities in the university
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Education