STRESS LEVEL AND THE COMMON COPING STRATEGIES AMONG INTERNATIONAL POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA MEDICAL CENTRE (UKMMC), CHERAS, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

This study was to determine the stress level, and the common coping strategies used by the international postgraduate students in UKMMC, Cheras campus Kuala Lumpur to alleviate their stress. Methods: A cross-sectional study to determine the stress-level was conducted among the international postgraduate students in UKMMC, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. A selfadministrated questionnaire was instituted, including fundamental data on socio demographic data of the respondents, the stress level using Kessler Psychological Distress scale (K10) and the Brief Cope scale. Results: A total of 126 respondents with responding rate of 82.9% participated in this study. Mean age of respondents was 35.20 ± 5.52 years with slightly more than half of them aged between 30-39 years. Majority were Arabic students (52.4%) followed by Iranian (27.8%) and Asian students (19.8%). The stress prevalence among the students was 54.8%.Out of the fourteen coping strategies, three werefound to be effective in managing their stress, which include self-distraction (OR= 1.48, 95% CI = 1.03–2.22), denial (OR= 1.57, 95% CI = 1.11–2.22), and self-blame (OR= 1.66, 95% CI= 1.21–2.28). Conclusion: Half of the post graduates students at UKMMC had some form of stress. Self-distraction, denial, and self-blame are the strategists used to alleviatethe stress among the post graduates students. Further study is recommended to measure the effectiveness of these strategists in order to overcome their stress level