PERCEIVED STRESSORS AND SYMPTOMS OF STRESS OF STUDENTS IN GENERIC BACCALAUREATE NURSING PROGRAMS.
Contributors: Peabody College For Teachers Of Vanderbilt University.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 98
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Educational Psychology.; Health Sciences, Education.
Description: More registered nurses are returning to school to pursue a baccalaureate degree in nursing. Faculty have reported that registered nurse students express more negative emotions than generic students. Little research has been done to determine differences between registered nurse students and generic students in generic baccalaureate nursing programs. The purpose of this study was to examine some of the differences between registered nurse students and generic students in relation to perceived magnitudes of stress, sources of stress, symptoms of stress, and vulnerability to stress as measured by the Stress Audit (Miller & Smith, 1987). It was expected that registered nurse students would manifest more stress and symptoms of stress than generic students, thus generating expressions of anger and hostility in response to the stress.

The Stress Audit was administered to senior nursing students in five National League for Nursing accredited generic baccalaureate nursing programs in Kentucky. Of the 163 subjects, 45 were registered nurses and 118 were generic nursing students. The t test was employed to identify significant differences between registered nurse students and generic students in magnitude of stress, sources of stress, symptoms of stress, and vulnerability to stress.

There were significant differences between these two groups in three of seven categories of sources of stress. No significant differences were found on magnitude of stress, symptoms of stress, and vulnerability of stress. Registered nurse students perceived work in the future as more stressful than generic students. However, generic students perceived school in the future and finances in the past as more stressful than the registered nurse students.

This study suggests that registered nurse students and generic students may be more similar than different. Further research is needed to determine why the registered nurse student is perceived as expressing more negative emotions than generic students.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-01, Section: B, page: 0143.

Thesis (ED.D.)--PEABODY COLLEGE FOR TEACHERS OF VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY, 1989.

School code: 0074.