Exploring Financial Stress, Anxiety and Coping Strategies Among Working University Students in Kathmandu Valley

Abstract

Background University education in Nepal presents compelling challenges for students with financial needs who work alongside their studies, resulting in interconnected difficulties. This study examines their experiences of financial stress in academics, work, social relations and in other wider avenues and suggests mental health interventions and policy developments to support them. Methods This qualitative study applies a hermeneutic phenomenological design integrating case study approach utilizing semi-structured in-depth interviews; the overarching goal is to understand the nuances of the financial crisis and its experience from wider socio-economic perspectives. Though the participants were recruited based on their clinical diagnosis of anxiety with intent to explore stringent distress, the study focuses their subjective experience over clinical categorization. Applying two methods allowed for broader perspective and interpretation of how socio-economic pressures and anxiety converge to shape students' coping strategies and lived phenomena acknowledging clinical reality of participant’s distress. Results The study yielded into eight themes : 1. Structural Scarcity and the Situational Weight of Financial Strain 2. Anxiety as a Persistent Mind–Body Response to Financial Burden 3. Coping Strategies : From Resilience to Avoidance 4. Social Comparison & the Erosion Sense of Belonging 5. Existential Erosion: Internalizing Strain as a Deficit of Self-Worth 6. Limited Institutional Support Intensifying Psychological Distress. Case study analysis extended these themes, revealing Financial Stress Embedded in Family Violence and Dysfunction and Gender-Based Social Perception and Expectations Surrounding a Working Female Student During Financial Crisis. Conclusion These findings led to a broader understanding of working students' multidimensional phenomena, highlighting various coping strategies, resilience and self-belief processes. Revealing the impact of financial behaviour and students' perception in a dysfunctional family, social relationship and gender evaluation in financial behaviour. It calls for more collective action, inclusive dialogue and equity-based institutional safety nets.