The Stress And Ways To Deal With Using Contemplative Education Process

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the stress conditions of students at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya. The 400 samples were randomly divided by the stratification. The instrument was a stress questionnaire. The research revealed that the basic data questionnaire can be summarized as follows: Gender factors found that females had higher frequencies of stress than males at 60.8 percent and 39.3 percent. The age factor was from the highest-lowest percentage. The students from the Faculty of Business Administration and the Faculty of Architecture had the highest stress. The Buddhist students had the highest stress. Factors related to marital status, father-mother were the highest percentage. Career factors of agriculture and fishery got the highest stress. The factor of receiving personal expenses of approximately 2,001-4,000 baht per month was the highest percentage. Fair income factors were a high percentage. Average family income factor was highest the average per month at10,001-20,000 baht. The highest financial factor of the family is the fair. The highest extracurricular participation factor is participation in extracurricular activities. A past year factor relating to illness without seeing a doctor was also included.

Keywords: Stressways to deal with stressstudents at RUTScontemplative education and process

Introduction

The 12th National Economic and Social Development Plan (2017-2021) of Thailand faces problems in terms of environment and context of adaptation which may cause risks both from inside and outside the country such as , the opening of free trade, challenges of new technology, the elderly society, several hazardous natural disasters consisting of several aspects including economy, society , natural resources and the environment of the country which still faces many problems, such as competition on product capabilities, greenhouse gas emissions and a corruption problem as well (The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council, 2017).

Today most people feel stressful because of several reasons such as cost of living, society problems and politics. It is inevitably that stress happens from the occupation and responsibilities (RYT9, 2017). As from ABAC pole survey, the findings from the study “Index of Thai’s stress case study people in Bangkok metropolitan”, found that people are unhappy 54.2 percent, followed by burnout (47.86%). People in Bangkok metropolitan faced stress problems due first to their work, followed by their economic, financial and educational situation, respectively. Stress problems from working may contribute to the other problems, for example health problems, and work efficiency. It is accepted that the statistic showed that many working people have symptoms of mental health and major depressive disorder. Factors that have an influence on stress and the mental health of working people are the environment , such as a heat wave, emotional feeling, characteristics of their work such as public relations including the competition in terms of career and education as well as their routine behaviour. For example, the city living forces many people to rush in a hurried manner in limited time such as going to work or going to the classroom. Moreover, these people need to present good working performance and capabilities to their administrators.

Most people face stress problems relating to their education, finance and occupation. People who feel stress due to their education, will try to be more intelligent by doing some activities or hobbies in order to reduce their stress. Some of them search for information and plan to study or work in the near future. For the economy, those who have stress problems, plan to following strict sufficiency economy Philosophy to spend money in an effective way, such as budgeting. For their efforts, they will solve the stress problem by behaving responsibly.

Stress refers to a neurotic behaviour that generates from insufficient understanding unsatisfied. This leads to disruptions of other activities and has an influence on both physical and social behaviour. Physical stress effects on neurotic behaviour such as heart (speed), sweat, dry mouth, dizzy, insomnia, and emotional feelings (Daengthern ,2014).

Wasi (2011) defined Contemplative Education Process as the concept to develop the human being completely in order to encourage learners to learn and to develop both in mind and thought by doing several activities. This concept generates critical thinking with generosity and volunteering connected to participating in real life. Figure 01 shows students who have stress problems relating to their education and work.

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Problem Statement

The undergraduate students at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, Songkhla campus can be separated in to fives faculties; the faculty of Engineering, the faculty of Business Administration, the faculty of Architecture, and the faculty of Liberal Arts and the faculty of Industrial Education and Technology under the unique motto “Graduate students can perform”. This group of students at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya has high anxiety about their cost of education such as stationary supplies and the tasks assigned by their lecturers. Moreover, the first-year students face the problem of adapting to university life such as meeting new friends, the university system in general. With respect to financial problems, these students need to spend more money for their accommodations. Some of them also do part-time work to afford their tuition. These factors make them experience a state of stress. This study is in line with the study of stress “Factors that have an influence on stress and the way of dealing with the stress of students in the faculty of liberal arts” (Kaewprapun, 2012, p. 4). It found that the causes that make students have stress are the cost for education (monthly’s cost of living), followed by being unable to accomplish their goals. The situations that generate the student’s stress are related to learning factors. The students are worried about their expected grades (worried about grade), their examination (difficult texts), and their adaptation to new friends which is consistent with Pattanapran, Keawrungreong, and Sirichote (2014). This previous study showed that overall, both male and female students at Thaksin university, Songkhla campus had stress at a moderate level. When considering each aspect, the study found that the highest stress levels in both males and females related to their studies, followed by the stress of living in the university. The study also indicated that males experience higher stress than females.

Based on the problems states above, the researcher aims to study the stress problem and the way to deal with the stress for the students at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, Songkhla campus. This research will be conducted using the contemplative education process aiming to explore the states of stress and to study the students’ stress in the future.

Research Questions

Purpose of the Study

Research Methods

This research is a quantitative research.

Findings

6.1. Gender factors found that females had higher frequencies of stress than males

6.2. Faculties factors are in percentage, high for faculty of business administration and architecture

6.3. Buddhist factors got the highest stress.

6.4. Factors related to marital status , father-mother was the highest percentage.

6.5. Career factors of agriculture and fishery got the highest stress.

6.6. The factor of receiving monthly’s personal expenses 2,001-4,000 baht was the highest percentage.

6.7. Fair income factors were a high percentage.

6.8. Average family income factor was highest average per month 10,001-20,000 baht.

6.9. The highest financial factor of the family is the fair.

6.10. The highest extracurricular participation factor is participation in extracurricular activities.

6.11.A past year factor relating to illness without seeing the doctors.

The findings are shown in Table 01 .

Conclusion

7.1. Overall students stress in five faculties had high stress levels that resulted from situations in their daily life, such as anxiety, fear and unable to cope with the problems and influence on their routine in daily life. This is in line with the synthesis of the research relating to stress Areekit and Klinhom (2013) that found samplings had stress at a high level of 9.09%. However, this study is not consistent with Pattanapran, Keawrungreong, and Sirichote (2014) that found undergraduate students both male and female at Thaksin University had stress at a moderate level as shown in Table 02 .

7.2. The causes or situations that generate the stress are (current) studies. This is the highest, followed by a job after graduation. This is consistent with Khanthakhuarn and Rungnirundorn (2016) who indicate that most students had high levels of stress the following factors; unable to understand content clearly and inadequate rest as shown in Table 03 .

7.3. Stress divided by students’ years/levels. The difference of levels had influence on stress in different ways relating to the research question. It was found that the fourth year students had the most stress because of their tasks, inadequate rest, career preparation after graduation, followed by the fifth year students, who studied in the Faculty of Architecture. These groups of students have to do a lot of tasks in a limited time. These factors are influenced on their stress. This is in line with Wongthai and Nimnuan’s (2014) research “The stress of students in department of architecture at Chulalongkorn University” found that factors that affect stress are too many assignments and lack of rest. This is in accordance with the research “The stress of students in the college”. Satirapunya and Hemaphan (2013) found that the third and the fourth year students had significantly more stress than the first and the second year students (P<0.01) as shown in Table 04 .

7.4. Stress divided by faculty. It can be concluded that faculty has no effect on stress and is not consistent with the research question. It was found that scores are not different. With respect to the Faculty of Architecture, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Industrial Education Technology, the Faculty of Liberal Arts and the Faculty of Business Administration. These findings are in accordance with the research “ Stress and Anxiety’s student at Thonburi University” (Wongsritrakul, 2011) that found when comparing stress levels, anxiety levels and methods of dealing with stress and anxiety, classified by the faculties, students who were studying in different faculties experienced no difference in stress levels. This is in line with the research “Stress and Stress Coping of Business Information Technology Students of Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin, Bophit Phimuk Chakkrawat (Piyayodilokchai, Kampusiripong, Sawatmuang, & Chandrapas, 2016). The previous study found that the students with different study results had nothing different for the causes of stress as shown in Table 05 .

7.5. With respect to the way to deal with stress for students, the findings found that when they had stress, they felt stability. Based on the results of the questionnaire, "to comfort themselves to overcome all the difficulties (often rate 4)" in relation to the issues "to go to the father and mother and relatives (often 4)" and "when they are unhappy, they will try to think critically (often 4)".

7.6. The image of students at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya showed that they have their own identity. This is related to the set of questionnaires "Meet a fortune teller (never rate 1)". When theyface some stress problems, they can deal with them in a proper way. They are in a good manner and are not aggressive. For instance, the questionnaire “destroying items such as smashing the table (never 1)", " feeling emotional by screaming / shouting (never 1), " wanting to hurt themselves (never 1) "," Wanting to hurt others people (never 1) "and" Taking sleeping pills (never 1)".

The results of this research revealed that the stress of students at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, Songkhla Campus was at a high stress level and also found that the student’s level

had influence on stress. The reasons and situations that cause stress derive from studying (current) and having a job after graduation. The students can handle stress in a good manner, not aggressive. Furthermore they have a good image although they face stressful situations.

Implication: The education institute gets the basic information about stress and ways to deal with it from students at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, Songkhla and it is a guideline to prepare for their future.

Suggestions

• Educational institutions have guidelines to create the activities to promote leadership and teamwork as well as to establish a counselling centre for students who have some stress problems.

• Students have guidelines for dealing with their stress. They can adapt themselves in daily life such as having positive thinking, working consciously, finding the cause of the problem and finding solutions.

• The stress conditions and the way to deal with stress of students at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, Songkhla are known. This can lead to an effective project of how to deal with stress using contemplative education process for the students who have high stress’s levels.

Therefore, contemplative education process refers to a study that focuses and emphasizes the importance of developing ourselves from within, critical learning, listening without judging through the real experience of consciousness and intellect and having a generous respect for all things which lead to good behaviour in the society (Wasi, 2011). The activities followed by contemplative education process that the research used is as follows 1) Check-in for study preparation 2) Check-out review lessons 3) Raise awareness for relaxation 4) sculpture for relaxation and creative ideas 5) Yoga to relieve stress and muscles 6) artificial arts for relaxing and creative thinking, etc.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the budget for 2018 by “Faculty of Liberal Arts Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, Songkhla, Thailand”. The author would like to thank the students in year 1-5 in the different five faculties namely; The Faculty of Engineering, The Faculty of Business Administration,The Faculty of Architecture, The Faculty of Liberal Arts and The Faculty of Industrial Education and Technology at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya , Songkhla.

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