NURSING STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF CLINICAL EXPERIENCE STRESSORS AND PEER GROUP SUPPORT.
Contributors: Temple University.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 130
Subjects: Education, Health.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: This study explored clinical stress as a lived experience of nursing students. Focus Group interview of clinical peer groups was the data collection method. A total of 80 second year Associate Degree nursing students in nine clinical groups were the study informants.

The students' descriptions in this study add support for the existence of clinical stress as a particular type of stress experienced by nursing students. Interview data were coded and organized in matrices. Through critical analysis, themes emerged. The themes were divided into two categories; stressors related to the function of nurse, including patient care and the hospital environment, and stressors related to the role of student nurse.

The themes of stress related to patients and patient care are similar, at times parallel to those reported in the literature on staff nurses. Results suggest that aspects of nursing stress originate during educational clinical experiences. The stress related to contact with pain, loss and death that is reported in this study is also reported by staff nurses. The collective perception of some aspects of nursing as stressful raises questions about the importance of the stressor. Study suggests that the nature of stressor should be a variable when examining nursing clinical stress.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-09, Section: A, page: 3112.

Thesis (ED.D.)--TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, 1992.

School code: 0225.
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