Objective.

To determine the level of stress among students of an undergraduate course in nursing of a Brazilian public university.

Methods.

Cross-sectional study involving 111 students who responded to the 30 item questionnaire of Costa and Polak for the Assessment of Stress among Nursing Students, with Likert type response options of 0-3 (0 = I have not experienced the situation; 1 = I do not feel stressed with the situation; 2 = I feel a little stressed with the situation, and 3 = I feel very stressed with the situation).

Results.

Participants were predominantly single (82.9%), female (83.8%), young adults (mean 23.3 years) and performing some kind of paid work (76.6%). The main stressors were related to the lack of time for: leisure activities (2.6); spending time with family members (2.5) and; completion of extracurricular activities (2.3). The highest levels of stress among students were found in the domains of professional training (52.2%), professional communication (33.3%) and time management (32.4%).

Conclusion.

The majority of the students presented low levels of stress in the general activities of the course, however, the activities related to time management, especially time for academic activities and social and family life, were identified as permanent stress factors during the graduation course.

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