Prevalence of Academic Stressors, Coping Strategies and their Association with MSK Disorder among University Students in Karachi

Abstract

There is a widespread presence of academic stress among university students hence having impact on musculoskeletal disorder(MSDs) .current study aims to found out the association between academic stress, coping strategies, MSK disorder among university students in Karachi . Awareness of these relationships can be useful to address the issues that affect students’ health and their learning. Current cross-sectional study took 3 months and was  conducted on 152 participants selected from Indus University. The sampling technique used was convenience sampling. The SSRS, NMQ, and CSQ were used to gather data of stress, musculoskeletal disorders, and coping strategies respectively. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, chi-square tests, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple linear regression using SPSS version 29. Out of the total 152 students,32.2% were male  and 67.8% female, with a mean  age of 22.78 ± 2. 52 years  . Apparently, high stress was experienced by 73.03%, and  28.95% had high MSDs. Females had more reports of stress level 54.4% and MSD 72.4% than the males. Academic stress was clearly linked with MSDs in a statistically noticeable manner with a correlation coefficient of 0. 039 and coping strategies also correlated to stress with a coefficient of 0. 046. Among the perceived stresses, the students’ self-report data showed that 73. 03% of them admitted to a high level of stress.. More so, respondents with MSDs were more female (72. 4%) as compare to male (27. 6%).