| Description |
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global tragedy. These unprecedented times have created and continue to create traumatic events: emotional stress, anxiety, and potentially depression and PTSD for many US residents (CDC, 2021). These negative feelings can be described as stressful emotions, an overwhelming feeling of despair, anxiety, depression, and even PTSD (Li et al, 2020). Many types of negative feelings have been associated with this pandemic, and for prelicensure nursing students and other allied health students, it has even caused them to reflect if they should continue within their respective studies related to their own health profession (Fowler & Wholeben 2020). This honors thesis is a descriptive cross-sectional study analyzing the perceived psychological health impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on prelicensure nursing students in 3 different cohorts of the prelicensure program at various time periods of the foursemester prelicensure nursing program. This Honors thesis project was a survey-based study. Our research findings conclude that anxiety, depression, and PTSD were present in the sample characteristics (nursing students) at various levels. The sample participants included 59 students, of which were mostly female 90% (n=50), white 90% (53), and single 63% (n=37). Our sample participants were asked to rank their level of distress related to the disruptions to their own social support due to COVID-19 on a 1 to 10 scale, with 1 being no distress and ten being extreme. Our sample participant's mean score for the level of distress in these 59 nursing students was 5.68. The top three sources of stress were school concerns, financial concerns, and general well-being due to social distancing and/or quarantine (Table 11). Coping mechanisms reported at or above 50% included: "Getting a good night's sleep," "talking with friends," and "exercise" (Table 8). Most of our sample participant's coping mechanisms were achieved via phone calls, electronic communication, video-call, or in person. The majority of the social support was from family and friends. Most of the study participants, 76% (n=45), reported their satisfaction with current levels of support as "somewhat satisfied" or "extremely satisfied." The data retrieved from the questionnaires revealed that the self-reported resilience levels of nursing students had an inverse correlation with the sample participant's anxiety, depression, and pre-clinical PTSD symptoms. It's essential to understand, implement, and/or continue to foster a culture of resilience in nursing schools throughout the world due to the direct impact resilience levels have on the mental and physical well-being of nursing students' academic success and future career as registered nurses (Fowler & Wholeben, 2020). |
