Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived impact of stress on the
academic performance and health of students in Colleges of Education in
Ghana. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. A
sample of 275 students was selected from St. Vincent College of Education,
Atebubu College of Education and OLA College of Education using
stratified sampling technique. Data were collected using questionnaire
adapted from Student-Life Stress Inventory, the Africultural Coping Systems
Inventory (ACSI), and Duncan-Williams’ (2015) Scale on Impact of Stress.
Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study
revealed that the respondents expressed stress often as depicted by their desire
to be loved by everyone, finding perfect solution to problems, worrying a lot,
procrastinating a lot, dealing with too many changes, huge work overload,
interpersonal issues and academic workload issues. It was also found that the
major causes of stress included high academic workload, lack of learning
materials/resources, poor performance in examinations and difficulty reading
and understanding modules. Finally, the study found that stress can impact on
academic performance and health of students negatively. It was recommended
that authorities of Colleges of Education should collaborate with counsellors
to organise workshops for students on how to deal with their experience of
stress.
