Stressor Factors for Spanish Nursing Students in a Pandemic Context: An Observational Pilot Survey

The context of the pandemic in Spain meant a high demand for care. The purpose of this pilot work was to determine the stress factors, conducted on final-year nursing students at a Spanish university, who volunteered to carry out healthcare tasks, in pandemic and post-pandemic contexts.

An observational prospective cohort pilot survey was conducted with an intentional sampling of the forty-seven students. We collected sociodemographic and stressor data using the validated KEZKAK questionnaire. The STROBE checklist was used to evaluate the study.

The median scores obtained from nursing students incorporated as auxiliary health workers are lower than those who were not incorporated, and statistically significant differences were found: lack of skills and abilities (p = 0.016); relationship with tutors and colleagues (p = 0.004); impotence and uncertainty (p = 0.011); inability to manage the relationship with the patient (p = 0.009); emotional involvement (p = 0.032); distress caused by the relationship with patients and item overload (p = 0.039); and overload items (p = 0.011). The post-pandemic only maintained "lack of skill and abilities" (p = 0.048), from nursing students incorporated as auxiliary health workers.

This pilot study showed that nursing students who joined as auxiliary health personnel presented less perceived stress than non-incorporated nursing students. Still, more prospectively designed clinical research is needed.