English Education Graduates' Reflections on Coping Strategies for Managing Academic Stress Throughout the Final Project Process
Abstract
Academic stress is commonly experienced by university students during the completion of their final projects due to demanding academic tasks, time pressure, and high academic expectations. Although previous studies have identified various coping strategies, limited attention has been given to how graduates reflect on the effectiveness of those strategies after completing their final projects. This study aimed to explore the coping strategies employed by English Education graduates to manage academic stress and examine how they reflected on the effectiveness of those strategies. A descriptive qualitative approach was employed involving five purposively selected English Education graduates to obtain in-depth reflective accounts of their coping experiences. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that participants managed academic stress through both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies, particularly by seeking academic assistance and engaging in relaxation activities. Participants identified effective and less effective coping strategies and drew lessons that informed their responses to future academic challenges. These findings suggest that coping extends beyond immediate stress management and involves a continuous process of reflective learning. This study contributes to the existing literature by suggesting that, among the English Education graduates in this study, reflective evaluation functioned as an integral component of the coping process, through which participants assessed the effectiveness of their coping strategies and identified lessons for responding to future academic challenges.
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