The Effect of a Stress Coping Training Program for University Students

This randomized controlled study investigates the effectiveness of a structured stresscoping training program on perceived stress, cognitive flexibility, psychologicalresilience, and burnout among university students. University students are frequentlyexposed to academic demands, performance pressure, time constraints, and role‐relatedchallenges, which may negatively affect their psychological well‐being. Structuredpsychoeducational interventions aimed at enhancing adaptive coping strategies maycontribute to improved emotional regulation, cognitive adaptability, and overallresilience. Within this context, the present study evaluates the impact of a 12‐weekstress coping program grounded in cognitive‐behavioral and skills‐based approaches.The research is conducted at the Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of HealthSciences, Hacettepe University, and the Department of Occupational Therapy, GülhaneFaculty of Health Sciences. A total of 64 healthy university students aged between 18 and25 years who meet the inclusion criteria participate in the study. Participants areassigned to either an experimental group (n=32) or a control group (n=32). Theexperimental group receives a structured stress coping training program consisting ofweekly one‐hour sessions over 12 weeks, delivered by an expert academician in the field.The program includes modules on stress awareness, identification of stressors, stages ofstress, personality characteristics and stress, physiological and psychological responsesto stress, breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, time management,problem‐solving strategies, cognitive restructuring techniques, mental regulationmethods, and relapse prevention. The control group does not receive the interventionduring the study period but completes the same assessment procedures.Data are collected face‐to‐face before and after the intervention using a DemographicInformation Form, the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory, the Perceived Stress Scale‐10, theResilience Scale for Adults, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory‐Student Form. Descriptivestatistics summarize participant characteristics. Normality of the data is examined usingskewness‐kurtosis values, Shapiro‐Wilk tests, and histogram distributions. Between‐groupand within‐group comparisons are analyzed using appropriate parametric or non‐parametricstatistical tests. Effect sizes are calculated using Cohen's d, and statisticalsignificance is set at p < 0.05.This study contributes empirical evidence regarding the role of structured stress copinginterventions in enhancing adaptive psychological processes among university students.The findings provide implications for preventive mental health strategies and support theintegration of structured stress management programs into higher education settings.