Student Stress Questionnaire

Healthwatch Bristol and Healthwatch South Gloucestershire engaged with students studying at the University of the West of England and Bristol University to find out their experiences of feeling stressed or feeling under pressure.

This questionnaire was conducted in order to try to better understand students’ experiences of stress, for instance, what causes students stress and what students do to manage their feelings of stress. This includes which health or wellbeing services students used (if any), and their opinions of the care they received from these services. Information was gathered in order to try and improve students’ mental health services and see what local students think can be done to improve student wellbeing and mental health support.

Of the fifty-four students that responded, the high majority stated that they had experienced stress of some kind, mainly relating to university work and deadlines or thinking about their future. Students mentioned that they had used a few Bristol based services to help combat their feelings of stress, such as the UWE wellbeing service, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Bristol Mental Health Assessment Team.

Recommendations made as a result of the questionnaire encourage that information is given to students about what to do and who to contact during stressful times, and more information on self help should be made available.