Canadian Journal of Pure & Applied Sciences

Abstract: The present study assessed the influence of health education on stress management among undergraduates in Nigeria, focusing on Babcock University. Selected students were stratified into control and experimental groups with 50 participants in each group. Descriptive factors examined included age, gender, religion and marital status. Also, the respondents were classed into different stress personality types using standardized Emotional Stress Inventory Questionnaire. Students in the experimental group were exposed to health education intervention and their responses to Standardized Stress Behaviour Inventory Questionnaire (SSBIQ) at baseline were compared to endline report and the response from the control group using t-test at p<0.05. The majorities of the respondents (78%) were less than 20 years old, female (54%), single (96%), belong to the Yoruba ethnic group (56%) and are Christians (91%). Also, at baseline 60% and 58% of the respondents belonged to the high stress level personality type A in the control and experimental groups respectively. At post-intervention, the health education had significantly influenced the behaviour of the students in the experimental group as measured by SSBIQ. Furthermore, frequency of stress type A reduced to 46%. Policies and programmes geared towards enhancing effective stress coping strategies should be put in place by appropriate educational ministries and by the University administration.