HUBUNGAN STRES AKADEMIK DENGAN EMOTIONAL EATING MAHASISWA AKHIR S1 ILMU KEPERAWATAN FIKES UMM

Background: Final year students often experience academic Stress due to final assignments and other academic pressures. Stress can trigger emotional eating, a behavior characterized by emotional eating. Uncontrolled emotional eating can lead to Binge Eating Disorder (BED). This study aims to analyze the relationship between academic Stress and emotional eating in final year undergraduate students of the Nursing Science program at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM).
Method: The method used was quantitative with a cross-sectional research design. The sampling technique used purposive sampling with inclusion criteria (Nursing Science students class of 2022, willing to participate as respondents, active students, uncontrolled overeating, weight changes, digestive problems) and exclusion criteria (students who are sick/on a diet). Data were collected using the Spearman Rank test with SPSS 26. Data were collected using the Perceived Sources of Academic Stress (PSAS) questionnaire, and for emotional eating, the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ).
Results: The study showed that the majority experienced moderate Stress (46.8%), high Stress (42.9%), and high emotional eating (53.2%). With a p-value of 0.000 and a correlation value of r = 0.587, indicating a strong relationship between academic Stress and emotional eating. The direction of the relationship is (+), meaning that the higher the academic Stress, the higher the emotional eating.
Conclusion: Nursing students who experience high levels of Stress can experience emotional eating..