Stress, stressors, and stress responses of student nurses in a government nursing school

Background: Stress during nursing education and training has been documented. Although the body of evidence regarding stress among student nurses is growing over the world, there is little in the literature assessing stress among Filipino nursing students enrolled in a government nursing school. Aim: The present study explored the level of stress, stressors, and physio-psycho-social responses to stress among Filipino student nurses in a government nursing school. Method and Material: A descriptive design was adopted in this study. A total of 61 students who were enrolled in the nursing program were taken as study respondents. Research data were collected utilizing the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Physio-psycho-social Response Scale (PPSRS). Data analysis was performed with the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 16. Results: Findings indicated that student nurses experienced moderate level of stress [mean (SD) = 2.18 (0.43)] and were in good physio-psycho-social health [mean (SD) =1.49 (0.45)]. Stress from assignments and workload [mean (SD) =2.68 (0.58)] was the most common stressor identified, while emotional symptoms [mean (SD) =1.82 (0.67)] were the most common response to stress. In addition, students who reported higher level of stress were significantly more likely to experience poor physio-psycho-social health (r=0.3463, p=0.0063). Result also revealed that perceived stress level decrease according to the year of attendance. Conclusions: Results indicated that stress is very common in nursing education and it may have an impact on the physio-psycho-social health of the students. Knowledge on student nurses’ stress levels, its sources, and stress responses would serve as an important input in identifying and planning effective interventions and strategies to reduce or prevent stress in nursing education and training thus, facilitating their learning both in the academe and clinical setting.

Author(s): Labrague Leodoro

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