Autogenic regulation training and sickness absence amongst student nurses in general training

Sickness absence has been a long-standing concern of the nursing profession. In this paper, sickness is construed as illness or the form a complaint takes. Absence is formulated as a form of coping. A longitudinal study using an experimental and control group design was carried out with student nurses using autogenic regulation training (ART). Comparisons of the relationship between ART and sickness absence records were recorded for: total days off; certificated and uncertificated days off; uncertificated days off; certificated days off; total blocks and total wards; first and second ward allocations; and average time sick. It is argued that ART helped significantly to reduce overall sickness absence in the experimental group when compared with the control group subjects. Reasons for this are discussed and issues for further research are raised. It is concluded from the present study that ART has a contribution to make in preparing student nurses to cope with the demands of nursing and sickness absence.