Academic demands and stress in students Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad Austral of Chile

Abstract

To examine the levels of academic demands and their stressor consequences is one of the main objectives of this work. In order to do this, twenty four university careers corresponding to two Chilean Universities were evaluated: Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) and the Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACh). A total sample of 1.334 students was used for the study. 
This article focuses its attention on the four UACh's Medicine Careers, using a sample of 225 students. In a comparative analysis of the twenty four careers analyzed as a whole, the UACh's Medicine Faculty achieved the highest grades according to the evaluation made by the students of their respective curricular system. The measuring instrument contains a test battery for cognitive evaluations and curricular stress. This partial result coincides with the total result of the sample. In this way, the inverse relationship between the high level of academic demands and the corresponding low level of stress, and vice-versa, is confirmed. The UACh's Medicine Faculty careers show high demand levels with moderately high stress levels. In particular, the evaluations of personal situations reflect a high self esteem, accompanied with moderately low stress levels. 
In relation to the ideal idea of what is supposed to be a good curricular system, the students expect high demand levels, showing moderate stressor consequences. These expectations are similar to the rest of the evaluated careers of both universities.