Evaluating student interpreters’ stress and coping strategies

The purpose in this study was to evaluate the severity of stress experienced by student interpreters and the coping strategies that they employed. Our main interest was in determining how well coping strategies could explain the stress caused by interpreting. We used a survey method to collect data from 186 student interpreters at a university in Taiwan. We employed the Interpretation Classroom Anxiety Scale and the Coping Strategy Indicator. The results indicated that approximately 42% of the variance in the development of student interpreters’ stress found in this sample could be explained by the coping strategies used. Among 3 coping strategies used, avoidance made the largest significant unique contribution to the explanation of student interpreters’ stress.