STRESS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES USED BY KWARA STATE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION STUDENTS, ILORIN, KWARA STATE

This study was carried out to investigate stress management strategies used by Kwara State College of Education students, Ilorin, Kwara State. Kwara State College of Education students are faced with series of stressful challenges from academic stress to psychological stress, difficulty in lectures comprehension, poor students-lecturer relationship, student-student relationship, inability to identify their stressor, and negative coping techniques is used to manage their stress which harm their health. The purpose of this study was to: Investigate the use of relaxationand seeking spiritual support as a stress management strategy by Kwara StateCollege of Education student in Ilorin. Descriptive research of the survey type was adopted for this study. Multi–stage sampling technique of cluster, simple random and purposive sampling techniques was used to select four hundred and two (402) respondents from the five schools in the Kwara State College of education.A researcher developed structured questionnaire was used for this study and validated by three (3) experts in the Department of Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin. Areliability co-efficient, r=0.84 was obtained through split-half method. Data collection was conducted by the researcher and three trained research assistants. Inferential statistics of Chi-square (χ2) was used to analyze the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study show that: Relaxation was significantly used by Kwara State College of Education students, Ilorin as stress management strategy because calculated chi-square value 263.85 is graeter that chi-square table value 9.48 (Cal χ2 val ˃ Tab χ2 val).Seeking spiritual support was significantly used by Kwara State College of Education students, Ilorin as stress management strategy because calculated chi-square value 211.64 is greater than chi-square table value 9.48 (Cal χ2 val ˃ Tab χ2 val). Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that Kwara State College of Education students, Ilorin, Kwara State, should be encouraged to continue because they used relaxation, spiritual support and seek diversion asstress management strategies.Therefore, the following recommendations were suggested; Kwara State College of Education governing council should set up different recereational centers in the school, religious leaders in the institution should constantly orientate students on spiritual tips to manage their stressful event.