Abstract:

Introduction:
The objectives were to identify prevalent academic stressors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and their relationship with some socio-academic factors.

Material and methods:
Longitudinal correlational study. The study sample consisted, in 2019, of 166 nursing students and, in 2021, of 156 nursing students from a Peruvian Andean public university. The instrument used was the Academic Stress Inventory (ASI).

Results:
The common academic stressors before and during the pandemic were academic overload and lack of time to fulfil academic activities. Before the pandemic, the completion of mandatory work and taking exams were perceived as academic stressors. On the other hand, during the pandemic, the perceived academic stressor was the excessive number of students in the virtual classroom. The following variables were correlated with academic stressors: before and during the pandemic, self-satisfaction with academic performance; before the pandemic, number of courses; and during the pandemic, gender.

Conclusions:
It is necessary to plan how to control academic stressors in university classrooms all the way from career organisation to teaching activities.

Keywords:

Academic stressors, COVID-19, university students, nursing students.