Perceived Stress and Coping Strategies of Baccalaureate Nursing Students in Clinical Practice

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine baccalaureate nursing students’ stress, physio-psycho-social health and their coping strategies in clinical practice.

Design: A cross-sectional and descriptive study design was used.

Sample: All baccalaureate nursing students studying in Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary (SGT) University, who have clinical experiences, were invited to participate in this study. Total 205 baccalaureate nursing students’ were the sample for the research study.

Methods: A self-administrative survey including demographics, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Physio-psycho-social Response Scale (PPSRS), and Coping Behavior Inventory (CBI) was used. The researcher approached the eligible subjects at the end of lectures. Those who were willing to participate in the study were required to sign a consent form, fill in the questionnaire and then return it to the researcher immediately.

Results: The findings revealed that students perceived a moderate level of stress [mean (SD) = 2.10 (0.44)] and were in good physio-psycho-social health [mean (SD) =1.40 (0.65)]. The most common stressor came from ‘lack of professional knowledge and skills’ [mean (SD) = 2.34 (0.63)]. Emotional symptoms commonly occurred in response to clinical stress. Students frequently used transference coping strategies, which they found most effective in dealing with stress in clinical practice. Furthermore, year of study and level of stress were the two factors affecting students’ health. Year of study and stress from taking care of patients were the two predictors of the frequency of use of the problem-solving approach. Year of study, religion and stress from teachers and nursing staff affected the frequency of use of avoidance strategies. The frequency of four coping strategies, stress from peers and daily life, stress from taking care of patients and religion predicted the effectiveness of coping.

Conclusion: The results provided valuable information for clinical educators and clinical staff in identifying students’ needs, facilitating their learning in the clinical setting and developing effective interventions to reduce the stress they encounter.