Abstract:

COVID-19 coronavirus disease is already a global public health problem. To counter the spread of infection and death toll, governments have taken extreme measures such as mandatory confinement and restrictions on many socio-economic activities. This has been generating an impact on the economy and the mental health of the general population.

In the education sector, provisions have been made for the closure of face-to-face activities at all their educational levels, including the level of higher education. Academic activities have been taking place for a few months under the virtual modality, a condition that restricts a series of learning experiences typical of the training process of the future nurse. This situation has generated concerns in the nursing student group, which, due to the nature of their professional career, carry out a series of academic activities that necessarily involve practical sessions, pre-professional practices in clinical-community spaces and the internship activity that takes place in the hospital and community area. In addition to this, one of the characteristics of the nursing student of a private university is that it shares its academic activity with its work activity that allows to cover the economic costs that its stay at the university demands. This situation already represented a significant emotional burden for the student, now adding the impact of the pandemic, this represents a serious threat in the psychosocial sphere.

Strengthening coping skills in students allows them to effectively deal with stressors during this new educational experience. There is evidence that university nursing students face various forms and levels of stress ranging from moderate to severe levels, and it is also pointed out that coping strategies to deal with stress are essential in students who began internships in clinical areas.

In the conjuncture of this pandemic, it is necessary to generate scientific evidence that allows implementing improvements in the emotional well-being of the nursing student; therefore, the objective of this study was to determine coping strategies in a group of students in a nursing program during the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of this research was quantitative and its descriptive-transversal design. There was a population of 87 students from 8th semester. The collection instrument was the Coping Strategies Questionnaire in its short version COPE-28. Regarding the found findings in the coping strategies, the moderately adequate level predominated with 48.3% (n = 42), followed by the inadequate one with 32.2% (n = 28) and the adequate one with 19.5% (n = 17). Regarding the dimensions, in coping strategies focused on the problem, the moderately adequate level predominated (43.7%), and in the emotion-centered one, the inadequate (42.5%). These results indicate that those responsible for the academic area should strengthen the development of interventions that improve coping strategies in students, emphasizing the dimension focused on emotion. The areas of student wellness and tutoring must play an important supporting role in caring for student emotional well-being.

Keywords:

Adaptation psychological, Students nursing, Education nursing.