Nursing graduates' lived experiences of anxiety during their final year at University: a phenomenological study

What are the thoughts of postgraduate nursing students regarding the 'Applied Scientific Research' course? A qualitative study on achievements, benefits, challenges, and suggested solutions

OBJECTIVE

This research aimed to examine students' emotions, opinions, and suggestions regarding the "Applied Scientific Research" course.

METHOD

The study was conducted in a province in eastern Turkey between June and July 2023. Data were collected from 9 postgraduate students attending the "Scientific Research" course at a university's Institute of Health Sciences using a 'Descriptive Information Form' and a 'Semi-Structured Questionnaire'. Content analysis was employed for the qualitative data evaluation.

RESULTS

The participants' ages ranged from 25 to 32. Six participants were female, five were academicians, and five were doctoral students. Six participants had taken a statistics or research course before the scientific research course. Additionally, seven had attended scientific conferences, five followed a scientific publication regularly, five had conducted scientific research before, and five had not published scientific research before taking the course. Through the analysis of data obtained from participant interviews, three themes, namely "Effects of Activities in the Course," "Reasons for Recommendations and Preferences," and "Outcomes of the Course," were identified. Six sub-themes and 18 codes were generated, including "Most Challenging Activity," "Least Challenging Activity," "Recommendations for the Course," "Reasons for Choosing the Course," "Contributions of the Course," and "Feelings Towards the Course."

CONCLUSION

The research results indicate that students improved their skills in conducting scientific research, writing articles, and getting published after taking the course. Furthermore, the course evoked positive feelings in students and increased their perceived competence.

Trajectory of change in perceived stress, coping strategies and clinical competence among undergraduate nursing students during clinical practicum: a longitudinal cohort study

BACKGROUND

Clinical practicum is crucial for strengthening nursing students' clinical competence. However, nursing students often experience considerable stress during clinical practicum, and so they employ coping strategies to alleviate it. There is almost no empirical evidence on the change trajectory of perceived stress, coping strategies, and clinical competence among nursing students during a one-year clinical practicum. This study aimed to investigate the trajectory of change in perceived stress, coping strategies, and clinical competence among undergraduate nursing students during a one-year clinical practicum.

METHODS

This study used a longitudinal cohort design. Undergraduate nursing students were recruited from a science and technology university in Taiwan to participate from February 2021 to January 2022. Perceived stress, coping strategies, and clinical competence among students in basic training practicum (T1), advanced training practicum (T2), and comprehensive clinical nursing practicum (T3) were surveyed by using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Coping Behaviour Inventory (CBI), and Clinical Competence Scale (CCS). PSS, CBI, and CCS in T1, T2, and T3 were compared using a generalized estimating equation (GEE) to deal with correlated data. The level of statistical significance was set at α = 0.05.

RESULTS

A total of 315 undergraduate nursing students completed the questionnaire. The study results show that the overall perceived stress of the students is the highest in T2 and the lowest in T3. The main source of stress of the students is 'taking care of patients' at T1 and 'lack of professional knowledge and skills' at T2 and T3. Students' perceived stress in 'taking care of patients' gradually decreases over time. The four coping strategies of CBI, which are 'stay optimistic', 'problem-solving', 'transference' and 'avoidance' in this order, remain the same ranking in three surveys.The main stress coping strategy used by students is 'stay optimistic', while the coping strategy 'avoidance' is used more frequently in T2 than in T1 and T3. Students' mean scores of the overall clinical competence and in the 'general nursing' and 'management' subscales in T3 are higher than those in T1 and T2. However, their mean scores in 'self-growth' and 'positivity' subscales are the highest in T1 and the lowest in T2.

CONCLUSIONS

The results show that through experiential learning in clinical practicum at different stages time after time, students' overall perceived stress is the lowest and their overall clinical competence is the highest in T3. The main coping strategy used when students managed stress is 'stay optimistic'. According to the results, we suggest that clinical educators provide students with appropriate guidance strategies at different stages of stress and continue to follow up the clinical competence and retention rates of these nursing students in the workplace in the future.

A Cross-Sectional Study of Mental Health, Lifestyle, and Anxiety in Japanese Nursing Students by Year of College

For students in nursing colleges to develop necessary competencies as health care professionals and prevent post-graduation “reality shock” deterioration in the quality of care they provide, appropriate measures are needed in response to changes that occur as college years progress. In this study, mental health status, lifestyle, and various types of anxiety were investigated in 448 nursing college students during a four-year program in Japan. Students from each year of the program were surveyed with the K10 scale to measure mental health, and the Student Life Questionnaire to assess dietary habits, sleep duration, and exercise. Mean K10 scores for first-year students was 13.1, with 30% having anxiety about college life. Similarly, for second-year students the K10 score was 13.7, and compared to first-year students, rates of meal skipping and sleeping less increased. For third-year students, the K10 score (15.9) was higher than for other groups, as were their percentages of all items. Fourth-year students had a mean K10 score of 14.6, with a higher rate of meal skipping and feeling anxious about the future than other groups. These results suggest the need for support tailored to the characteristics of each year in the bachelor’s program in nursing.