Perceived Stress: A Comparative Study of Student Nurses from Mainstream and Minority Religious Group in Pakistan

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to investigate the difference between the minority student nurses and their dominant counterparts in Karachi, Pakistan, in their scores of perceived stress. It was hypothesized that the minority (Christian) student nurses would score higher on perceived stress than their dominant (Muslim) counterparts. Data was gathered from different nursing schools of Karachi, Pakistan. The sample consisted of 556 student nurses of age’s 19 years-30 year with mean age of 21.41years.comprised of two groups, that is, 252 Christians (mean age= 21.57) and 304 Muslims (mean age= 21.289). Pakistani version of Perceived Stress Scale was used to measure the level of perceived stress in both groups of subjects. Descriptive statistics were used for view of characteristics of sample in a summarized way and t- test was used to analyze the mean difference in the scores of perceived stress between Christian and Muslim student nurses. Result indicates that there is a statistically significant mean difference in the scores of perceived stress between Christian and Muslim student nurses (t= -3.103, df= 554, p<.002). Findings of this study identify that the level of perceived stress in nursing students who belong to minority groups significantly higher than their dominant counterparts.