A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF STRESSORS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG SUCCESSFUL BLACK FEMALE BACCALAUREATE NURSING STUDENTS AT PREDOMINATELY WHITE UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA (NURSING STUDENTS, MINORITY STUDENTS).
Contributors: University of South Carolina.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 253
Subjects: Education, Curriculum and Instruction.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Black Studies.; Education, Sociology of.
Description: This study used interview data and descriptive methods to investigate the stressors and coping strategies of academically successful Black female baccalaureate nursing students in the three predominately White universities in South Carolina. The study addressed three questions: (1) what are the sources of Black female students' major stressors, (2) which coping strategies do these students use regularly, and (3) how successful do students find particular coping strategies to be?.

Carver, Scheier, and Weintraub's COPE scales were used to classify the students' specific coping behaviors and a successful coping strategy was determined to be one that is evaluated by a person to have helped solve a problem, altered a source of stress, or reduced or managed the emotional distress associated with a situation.

Major stressors were academic, followed in descending order by environmental, financial, interpersonal, and personal stressors. Academic, environmental, and financial stressors were more numerous than interpersonal and personal stressors. This population of students differed from other groups of Black students at predominately White universities in their prioritization of stressors.

Coping strategies used with the greatest regularity were active coping, seeking social support for instrumental reasons, and seeking social support for emotional reasons. These strategies were usually reported to be effective, but were reported to be unsuccessful in instances when the desired outcome was not achieved.

Behavioral disengagement, denial, and alcohol-drug disengagement were reported to be unsuccessful coping strategies in the majority of instances. No instances of joking about a stressor were reported.

The configuration of coping strategies differed with the stressor being confronted. Indirect coping strategies occurred more frequently as initial responses to a stressor, and direct coping strategies were used initially and later in response to stressors.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-04, Section: A, page: 1217.

Thesis (ED.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1993.

School code: 0202.