A qualitative phenomenological study of student coping strategies in the VUCA era among first-year health students in Malang.

Introduction: first-year students in health programs face major challenges in the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) era, marked by sudden academic changes, complex workloads, and future uncertainty. These pressures often trigger significant academic stress. While coping strategies are key in managing this stress, few studies have comprehensively examined the contextual factors influencing students´ coping choices. This study has identified the factors that shape students´ coping strategies in navigating academic stress during the VUCA era. Methods: this study employed a qualitative phenomenological design guided by the COREQ checklist. Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted via Zoom with 21 purposively selected first-year health students at public universities in Malang, Indonesia. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) framework to extract themes and personal meanings. Results: students´ coping strategies were influenced by three main factors: (1) sociodemographic conditions (such as monthly pocket money and region of origin); (2) motivation for choosing a major (amotivation, extrinsic, or intrinsic); and (3) forms of social support (emotional, instrumental, or informational). Students with strong emotional support and intrinsic motivation were more likely to use adaptive, problem-focused coping strategies, while those facing economic or cultural barriers often employed emotion-focused strategies. Conclusion: coping strategies among first-year health students in the VUCA era are shaped not only by stressors but also by internal and external contextual factors. These findings underscore the importance of early psychosocial interventions tailored to student characteristics to strengthen resilience and academic adaptation during periods of transition.