Introduction:

Academic stress is a systemic, adaptive and essentially psychological process; it is the way people react to certain stimuli. Aim: to assess the academic stress in first and second year students of Dentistry.

Method:

analytic research with pedagogical kind, conducted in Camaguey Faculty of Dentistry involving the 42 students of first and second year of the program. SISCO tool of academic stress was applied since it allows to establish the levels of stress in university students. Data were processed through both descriptive and analytic statistics.

Results:

Moderate levels of stress were predominant in both years with 70% and 72,7 % in first and second respectively. The most influent stressors were the evaluations and the limited time for accomplishment of assigned tasks with figures above 10 in first year and 9 in second one. Psychological and physical reactions were predominant in second year students, and the most used strategy to face up to stress was elaboration of a plan and carry out its tasks which exhibited figures of 9 in second year and 11,4 in first year (p=0,006).

Discussion:

university admission and changes associated combined, the gradual responsibilities assumed and individual perception together with the impact of the pandemics are the main factors contributing to the stress exhibited by students; issue faced by elaborating a plan and develop its tasks as it is the preferred strategy.

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