Relationship between Stress and Eating Habits among Nursing Students in Assiut

Background: Nursing students experience many stressors in their academic lives and they often eat as a way of dealing with stress. Aim of the Study: The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a correlation between stress among nursing students and their patterns of eating habits in Assiut City, Egypt. Subjects and Methods: The study included 1078 female nursing students between the ages 15-22 years who were conveniently sampled. A cross-sectional survey was conducted including students of the first and the last years of graduation. The study was conducted in the period from December 2012 to May 2013. The study applied. The Compulsive Eating Scale (CES) and the Stressful Situations Questionnaire (SSQ) were used to measure each variable. Results: There was a highly significant relation between CES, stress (SSQ) and students’ age (p=0.001). The high mean score was present in age group (20-22 year) at early adulthood of development. According to class rank, there was a highly significant relation between stress (SSQ) and class rank of students (p=0.001), the higher percentage of students (86%) had high level of stress while 94.5% had poor eating scale. A highly positive correlation between uncontrollable eating habits and stress was present. Conclusions and Recommendations: This study showed consistent associations between unhealthy eating habits and exposure to stressful situations among female nursing students. Students living at parental home during university years displayed healthier nutritional habits than residing outside family home. It is necessary for students to be aware of the possible correlation between stress and uncontrollable eating habits, and alternative strategies for coping to stress should be presented to them. This suggests that during stress students need counseling services to choose course of action that involves a constructive way to deal with stress and starting to gain control in stressful situations. Also we must promote activities that keep them calm and centered, such as exercise, journaling or meditation. Correspondence to: Dr. Azza M. Abd El-Aziz, The Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Assiut University