Effectiveness of a structured life skills training program among Indian nursing students

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Health Psychology
• Social Sciences

Background:

• Nursing curricula increasingly focus on life skills alongside clinical expertise.
• A gap exists in understanding effective methods for integrating life skills into nursing education.
• This study addresses the need to evaluate structured life skills training for nursing students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a structured life skills training program on first-year B.Sc. Nursing students.
• To measure improvements in specific life skills including self-awareness, empathy, interpersonal relationships, and creative thinking.
• To explore associations between demographic factors and life skills proficiency.

Main Methods:

• A true experimental pretest-posttest design was used with 257 first-year B.Sc. Nursing students in Tamil Nadu, India.
• An eight-week Life Skills Training Program was administered to the experimental group; the control group received no intervention.
• Data collected via self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using chi-square, ANOVA repeated measures, and correlation analysis.

Main Results:

• The experimental group showed significant improvements in self-awareness, empathy, interpersonal relationships, and creative thinking compared to the control group (p < 0.001).
• Pretest life skills scores were significantly associated with age, place of stay, social connections, hobbies, and motivation for nursing (p < 0.05).
• Positive correlations between life skills indicated their interconnectedness.

Conclusions:

• A structured life skills training program is effective in enhancing the proficiency of nursing students.
• Integrating life skills development into nursing education is crucial for preparing students for complex healthcare demands.
• Personalized interventions may further enhance life skills development in nursing students.