THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACADEMIC STRESS AND SLEEP QUALITY IN FINAL YEAR NURSING STUDENTS AT THE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND HEALTH (ITEKES) MAHARDIKA

Final year students are students who are completing a thesis or final project. The
imbalance between academic demands and the ability to cope can cause academic stress.
This stress increases the hormones cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline, which impact
sleep quality and affect the central nervous system. These hormonal changes can disrupt
Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep cycles which
can affect sleep quality. This study aims to determine the relationship between academic
stress and sleep quality in final year nursing students at ITEKes Mahardika in 2025.
This study used a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional research design. The
sample size for this study was 118 respondents selected through total sampling. The
instruments used in this study were the Perceived Academic Stress Scale (PASS) for
academic stress and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) for sleep quality.
Univariate analysis using frequency distribution and bivariate analysis using chi-square
test. The ethical review of the study was deemed “Ethically Sound” by the Ethics
Committee for Research in Health Sciences (KEPK ITEKes) Mahardika.
The results showed that the majority had high academic stress as many as 98
respondents (83,1%), low category as many as 20 respondents (16,9%), 101 respondents
(85,6%) had poor sleep quality, while as many as 17 respondents (14,4%) had good sleep
quality. From the statistical results of the chi square test, the p value = 0,000, <  = 0,05,
so “Ha is accepted” means that there is a relationship between academic stress and sleep
quality in final year nursing students at ITEKes Mahardika in 2025. The Odds Ratio value
of 11,250 means that students with high levels of academic stress are 11,25 times more
likely to experience poor sleep quality compared to students who have low academic stress.
Recommendations for future research can examine academic stress with sleep
quality from various study programs and analyze the influence of demographic factors.