Future nurses' attitudes and anxiety toward artificial intelligence: A cross-sectional study

This study aimed to examine the relationship between nursing students' attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) and their levels of AI-related anxiety.

The rapid integration of AI into healthcare requires nursing students to understand and adapt to these technologies; however, their attitudes and anxiety remain insufficiently explored.

A cross-sectional descriptive study.

This study included 320 nursing students from a university in Türkiye between April and June 2025. Data were collected online using a Personal Information Form, the General Attitudes toward Artificial Intelligence Scale (GAAIS), and the Artificial Intelligence Anxiety Scale (AIAS). Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation analyses were conducted (p < 0.05).

GAAIS negative attitude scores were moderately to strongly correlated with all AIAS scores (p < 0.001). Positive attitude scores showed a weak negative correlation with AIAS Learning subscale (p < 0.001). AI interest was moderately correlated with positive attitudes (p < 0.001) and weakly correlated with lower total AIAS scores (p = 0.022). Female students had significantly higher AIAS Job Replacement, Sociotechnical Blindness, AI Structuring, and total AIAS scores (p < 0.05). Students living in rural areas had higher GAAIS negative attitude scores, as well as higher AIAS Learning, Job Replacement, and total AIAS scores (p < 0.05).

The findings indicate that nursing students generally demonstrate moderate levels of both attitudes and anxiety toward AI, with anxiety varying according to gender, living environment, and AI interest. These results highlight the need to integrate structured and experiential AI education into undergraduate nursing curricula to enhance students' familiarity with AI, strengthen positive attitudes, reduce anxiety.