| dc.description.abstract | Abstract
Background
Student housing is actualized as a major issue at the start of each semester, and 12 out of 33
university cities cannot offer new students housing during their first semester. Housing is, among
other factors, often dependent on academic results because of regulations made by student housing
companies. Meanwhile, previous studies suggest that housing and other sociodemographic factors
influence stress levels, performance levels and health in the general population. In this study, the aim
was to investigate whether there are any associations between student housing and health, stress
levels and academic results.
Methods
Data was collected via an online survey that was sent to all students registered at the pharmacy
programme, the physiotherapy programme, the programme in medicine and the speech and language
pathology programme at Sahlgrenska academy. The results were analyzed using chi-square tests.
Results
The general response rate was 20 %. A significant association was found between an unstable
housing situation and reported health decline (p=0.02). Housing was not found to be directly
associated with stress levels or academic results. A reported health decline was, however, strongly
associated with both of these factors. When the students were asked to derive health decline, stress
levels and academic failure to specific factors, the most frequently listed factor was the work
environment at the university.
Conclusions
It is widely accepted that stress has a negative impact on health, but the source of stress among
students remains a complicated issue. The results of this study suggest that an area of interest for
further studies is the work environment at the university. | sv |
