Managing fear associated with nursing in urban environments: first steps

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Community Health Nursing
• Environmental Psychology

Background:

• Nurses are essential for urban health, but students often lack comfort in these settings.
• Fear of safety threats in urban environments can deter nursing students from community-based practice.
• Existing instruments needed refinement to accurately assess nursing student comfort in diverse urban scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To refine the Environmental Comfort Scale for measuring nursing student comfort in urban settings.
• To identify factors influencing nursing student comfort and fear in urban community-based care.
• To develop a conceptual model addressing safety threats and fear in urban nursing.

Main Methods:

• Refinement of the Environmental Comfort Scale (ECS) into ECS II.
• Administered ECS II to 120 junior baccalaureate nursing students prior to their first clinical course.
• Utilized a 15-item instrument including demographic, comfort/fear ratings, and an open-ended question.

Main Results:

• Data analysis revealed two key factors influencing urban environmental comfort: personal-emotional (affective) and cognitive (objective).
• The interaction between affective and cognitive factors was identified as crucial for understanding student comfort levels.
• The study led to the conceptualization of a new model for urban nursing practice.

Conclusions:

• The refined Environmental Comfort Scale II provides a tool to assess nursing student comfort in urban settings.
• A model integrating personal-emotional and cognitive factors can help address safety concerns and fear.
• Understanding these factors is vital for preparing nurses for effective urban community-based care.