Evaluation of the academic stress and coping strategies of 3rd year and 4th year bs pharmacy students at Centro Escolar University-Manila before and during COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the growth of COVID-19 cases, all educational institutions around the world have been closed to prevent the spread of viruses, causing stress and anxiety among students. Stress is part of students' learning experience as it can increase memory development but inhibit memory recovery due to internal and external expectations. Coping with stress deals primarily with external or internal pressures that are hard on one's skills and abilities. Students' coping strategies enable them to manage academic stress. The study aims to evaluate the academic stress and coping strategies of Pharmacy students before and during COVID-19 Pandemic. A descriptive quantitative type of research was conducted on a sample population of 333 of 3rd year and 4th year pharmacy students of Centro Escolar University in Manila. The study was conducted through an online survey questionnaire and gathered data from the respondents using the Factors of Academic Stress Scale and Coping Strategies Scale. The collected data were subjected to statistical tools such as Logistic Regression and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test at 0.05 alpha level, and R Core Team version 4.0.4 was used to further interpret the study result. The research concluded that academic stress and coping strategies of the students have significant changes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Academic institutions should improve and provide counseling to their students experiencing academic stress and help the students to learn more about their different coping strategies.