Development of comprehensive measures to reduce anxiety and increase stress tolerance of first-year students through the integration of psychological training into the educational process

Abstract

The research is aimed at the scientific substantiation and empirical verification of a comprehensive program of psychological interventions integrated into the educational process to reduce anxiety and increase stress tolerance of first-year students. The relevance is due to the increasing psychological burden on first-year students in the context of the modernization of higher education and the post-pandemic transformation of the educational process. The study was conducted on a sample of 384 first-year students (221 women, 163 men, average age 18.3±0.7 years) from 6 Russian universities during the 2022-2023 academic year. A mixed design was used with a control group and a randomized distribution of participants. The methodological tools included the Spielberger-Khanin Anxiety Scale, the Connor-Davidson Stress Tolerance Questionnaire, the Lazarus coping strategy study method, and physiological measurements of heart rate variability. The intervention program consisted of 12 modules of 90 minutes each, integrated into the curriculum. The results demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in situational anxiety by 34,7% (p<0.001, d=0.82) and personal anxiety by 28,3% (p<0.001, d=0.71), an increase in stress tolerance by 41,2% (p<0.001, d=0.93), optimization of coping strategies with an increase in adaptive forms by 52,6% (p<0.001). Physiological stress markers showed an improvement in autonomic regulation: SDNN increased by 26,4% (p<0.001), LF/HF decreased by 31,8% (p<0.001). The results obtained indicate the high efficiency of the integrated approach and the need for systematic implementation of psychological training in educational programs of universities.