Browsing by Author "Atwikirize, Agrace"

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Effect of stressors and coping strategies on pre-service teacher-trainees’ academic performance in Ugandan universities
(East African Nature & Science Organization, 2025-08-21) Atwikirize, Agrace; Ssenyonga, Joseph; Biirah, Judith
Examining the relationship between stressors and coping strategies used by teacher - trainees in universities in the central region, Uganda
(East African Nature & Science Organization, 2025-07-04) Atwikirize, Agrace; Ssenyonga, Joseph; Biirah, Judith
Stress is an integral part of the student’s university life that calls for appropriate coping measures. Guided by the Transactional Appraisal Theory of stress and coping, this study examined the relationship between stressors and coping strategies used by pre-service teacher-trainees in universities in the Central region of Uganda. The study was quantitative in nature and adopted a cross-sectional survey research design on a target population of 7502 teacher-trainees. Five hundred fifty-four (554) pre-service teacher-trainees from year one to year three on two programs of study were selected using a simple random sampling strategy. The study involved 254 (45.8%) males and 300 (54.2%) females with an average age of 24 years. The findings revealed academic difficulties and time pressure as key stressors. The findings further revealed a significant positive relationship between stressors and coping strategies used by pre-service teacher-trainees to mitigate stress (r = 0.469, p = 0.000<0.05, n=554). Although teacher-trainees adopted myriad coping strategies simultaneously, the findings revealed that the majority used avoidant coping strategies (β = 0.550, p = 0.000<0.05), followed by problem-focused coping (β=0.439, p = 0.000<0.05) and emotion-focused coping strategies (β = 0.363, p=0.000<0.05). Thus, the study underscored the importance of adaptive coping strategies in mitigating stressful situations. The study recommends awareness and orientation of students in university life, strengthening counselling services, and introducing mindfulness programs to enhance the students’ problem-solving and adaptation-solving skills.
Perceived stress variations in relation to gender, year of study, and employment status of teacher-trainees in selected universities in Central Region, Uganda
(East African Nature & Science Organization, 2025-12-04) Atwikirize, Agrace
Transition from high school to university comes with challenges and opportunities that are stressful to the teacher-trainees. The study aimed to establish whether variations of stress existed between gender, year of study, and employment status of teacher-trainees in universities in the Central Region, Uganda. This cross-sectional quantitative study adopted a stratified sampling strategy to select programmes and simple random sampling to select participants using random numbers. Data were collected from 554teacher-trainees using a self-administered questionnaire and analysed using means, t-tests, and ANOVA. The findings revealed that although both male and female teacher-trainees experienced stress, females (mean=2.31) presented a slightly higher level thanmales (mean=2.30). The findings further revealed that stress increased as one moved to years two and three. The year two mean scores were slightly higher (mean=2.39), followed by those in year three (mean = 2.38) and lastly by year one (mean=2.17), and the observed F=11.57 had a highly significant level of (p=0.000<0.05). Additionally, working teacher-trainees experienced higher stress levels as indicated by a slightly higher (mean = 2.80) compared to their non-working peers (mean =2.31). The findings further revealed a negative students’ t-test (-0.524) and the level of significance (p=0.875 >0.05). Thus, university managers should provide an enabling environment, create awareness regularly about mental health through counselling. Universities should also create a supportive environment and activities that can help student to achieve their academic goals. A work-study scheme can be adopted to help needy students work and study from the same institution.