SOURCES OF STRESS IN ASSOCIATE DEGREE NURSING EDUCATION AND THE EFFECT ON STRESS OF A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO DATA COLLECTION IN THE CLINICAL AREA.
Contributors: University of Massachusetts (System)
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 192
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Information on the sources of stress experienced by nursing students in associate degree nursing programs is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine both the sources of stress in associate degree nursing programs and the perceptions of nursing students as to how well they coped with that stress. The study also examined the effect of using a select structured format for data collection and preparation of a nursing care plan on the level of stress experienced by student nurses.

Data was collected by means of a questionnaire; by timing the collection of data and preparation of nursing care plans; and by evaluating the list of needs and problems produced by students. Data were analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics.

The students in the nursing programs studied varied demographically across the colleges studied. Use of the structured format for data collection was not found to save time in either data collection or preparation of the nursing care plan, nor did it result in more thorough nursing care plans prepared by students. There was no significant decrease in state anxiety levels in the experimental group. The experimental group, however, did feel that it would be worthwhile to incorporate the structured tool for data collection into the nursing program.

Seventy-nine percent of the respondents indicated that they experience more than normal levels of stress at the end of their first year of nursing, and forty percent felt that they were not coping well with the stress they were experiencing.

Nursing programs should be presented in ways that will lessen the high levels of stress experienced by students without decreasing the programs' quality. It is recommended that areas of nursing education that are found to be highly stressful be addressed and that alternate ways of teaching that will improve the educational environment of the adult learner continue to be researched.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, Section: B, page: 0389.

Thesis (ED.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1987.

School code: 0118.