Promoting Nursing Student Mental Health Wellness: The Impact of Resilience-Building and Faculty Support

Being aware of elevated levels of student psychological distress by nursing faculty, and subsequently responding to it, may diminish nursing students' experience of negative mental health well-being.

Relationships between perceived faculty support, resiliency, and the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among undergraduate nursing students were explored.

An exploratory mixed-methods design was used for this descriptive, cross-sectional study. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21, Brief Resilience Scale, Perceived Faculty Support Scale, a demographic questionnaire, and open-ended questions were used to collect data. A convenience sample of 989 undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students from across the United States completed the surveys.

Study results revealed resilience strategies and psychological and functional supportive faculty behaviors and actions are substantial predictors of lower depression, anxiety, and stress in undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students.

Investments in faculty development to support nursing student resilience may reduce the degree of negative mental health well-being that students exhibit related to nursing education and promote their successful transition to nursing practice.