Stressors affecting nursing students in Pakistan

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education Research
• Psychology
• Sociology

Background:

• Nursing is inherently stressful, with students facing additional pressures from academic demands, clinical placements, and future employment concerns.
• These competing factors can significantly impact the well-being of nursing students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify stressors affecting preregistration nursing students in Pakistan.
• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Stressors in Nursing Students scale.
• To examine how demographic variables influence stress perception in nursing students.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 726 nursing students from 11 nursing schools in Karachi, Pakistan.
• Data were collected via questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
• Exploratory factor analysis was performed to assess the scale's structure.

Main Results:

• The Stressors in Nursing Students scale lacked a clear factor structure in this cohort, differing from prior research.
• Higher stress scores were reported by male students compared to females.
• Stress scores increased progressively over the four years of the nursing program.
• Students in private nursing schools reported higher stress levels than those in public institutions.

Conclusions:

• Pakistani nursing students may not distinguish between various stressors, potentially due to cultural factors and program structure.
• Cultural differences may also explain the gender-based variations in stress levels.
• The increasing stress over the program duration and higher scores among males necessitate interventions to prevent attrition and support nursing students.