Perceived Impact of Stress on the Academic Performance and Health of Students in Colleges of Education in Ghana

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.