Introduction:

There is increasing evidence showing the adverse effects of academic stress on higher education students in health fields.

Objective:

The aim of this research was to identify the presence of academic stress in morphology students of four programs of a Health Sciences Faculty.

Method:

A descriptive longitudinal study was carried out with a population of 78 morphology students, where the main stressors were evaluated through the application of the Academic Stress Questionnaire.

Results:

It was identified that morphology students perceive stress in an increased way as the academic semester goes by, this is mainly related to stressors such as academic overload, exams and methodological deficiencies of the teaching staff. In response to stress, the students reported that the most experienced feeling was physical exhaustion, followed by anger and sleep disturbances. Finally, it was determined that the students, as strategies to cope with stress, resorted mainly to the search for social support, positive reappraisal, planning and management of personal resources.

Conclusions:

Academic stress is a growing problem that considerably affects young people due to various stressors. This article highlights the stress conditions that health sciences students face, and calls on university institutions to identify the stress conditions to which their students are subjected and to generate strategies that can mitigate them.