Perceptions of poverty and associated factors among first- and second-year nursing students: a cross-sectional study

Poverty is a key social determinant of health. This study examined perceptions of poverty among first- and second-year nursing students and the characteristics associated with them.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted at a single university in southeastern Türkiye between June and July 2025. All 675 first- and second-year students were invited to complete an anonymous online questionnaire; 523 questionnaires were returned, 519 (76.9%) came from students in an eligible year, and 512 (75.9%) met all eligibility criteria and were analysed. Measures were a personal information form, including a single-response item on the perceived cause of poverty, and the Perception of Poverty Scale for University Students (PPS). Analyses were exploratory: descriptive statistics, t-tests and one-way ANOVA with effect sizes and post-hoc tests, and hierarchical multiple linear regression with heteroscedasticity-consistent (HC3) standard errors.

Poverty was most often attributed to "injustice" (43.0%) and "lack of opportunity" (27.5%). Students selecting "injustice" had higher PPS scores than those selecting "lack of opportunity" (p = 0.001, g = 0.41) or "sometimes people are to blame" (p = 0.023, g = 0.46). Scores differed by mother's education (F (5, 506) = 3.27, p = 0.006, η²p = 0.031) but not by father's education, family income, year of study or employment status. In the final regression model (R² = 0.075), mother's education (B = -1.15, 95% CI - 1.77 to -0.53) and attribution to injustice (B = 2.88, 95% CI 1.62 to 4.15) were associated with PPS scores; the female-male difference was small and imprecisely estimated (B = 1.29, 95% CI - 0.11 to 2.69), and household income adequacy, year of study and father's education showed no evidence of association.

In this single-university sample, maternal education and attribution of poverty to injustice were associated with PPS scores, whereas no evidence of an association with self-reported household income adequacy was observed. The analyses were exploratory and the model accounted for a small proportion of the variance; the cross-sectional design does not support causal inference or conclusions about the effectiveness of educational approaches. Poverty-related beliefs merit evaluation in educational research using measures of knowledge, stigma and practice.