Mood states and health behaviours in paramedical first-year students

The aim of this study was to compare first-year students enrolled in an Integrated Course at a Nursing College (n = 103) with first-year paramedical students from the following disciplines: Logopaedics (n = 12); Physiotherapy (n = 24); Occupational Therapy (n = 18); BSc Nursing (n = 12); Radiography (n = 27), on the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Health Behaviour Assessment Scale (HBAS) and Matric scores. The Integrated Nursing students revealed significantly lower Matric scores than the other students (p less than 0.0001), and showed significant differences on other variables, indicating higher negative mood states and less healthy life-styles. Recommendations are made regarding a possible alternative nurse training programme with emphasis on clinical skills in addition to the heavily academic 4-year Diploma course. A prophylactic stress management programme emphasising healthy life-styles commencing at the start of the training, is proposed.