Abstract:

The nursing profession is considered to be stressful and therefore psychologically demanding (e.g., Friganović, 2019). Dealing with reluctant patients, being confronted with suffering and dying, disputing with angry or anxious patients and even their relatives, and handling medical emergencies count among the many challenging situations that nurses have to master in their day-to-day work. Increasing bureaucratization, tight work schedules and (inter-)professional tensions within teams are further stressors that exacerbate the time-quantity problem associated with nursing work. These daily stressors lead to a crisis-like peak under conditions such as pandemic outbreaks and an aging society. In the long run, these factors can affect the health and performance of the nursing professionals themselves (Lorente et al., 2021). When reaching a chronic form, occupational stress can lead to persistent dissatisfaction, psychosomatic disorders, physical complaints and burnout (Thomas et al., 2019). The ability of coping productively with the stress and strain inherent in the nursing profession is therefore highly relevant in a double sense. From an individual perspective, it constitutes a prerequisite for long-term commitment and satisfaction in the nursing profession; from a social perspective, it contributes to securing a skilled workforce and to maintaining a functioning health care system.

Our study investigates whether an instructional concept for nursing schools, merging didactic principles in nursing education with concepts and trainings measures from stress psychology, promotes the acquisition of stress coping skills more effectively than regular teaching in the relevant curricular unit. The study design based on the Solomon four-group plan included 332 trainees. The assessment of stress coping competence with two measurement points at the beginning and at the end of the intervention provided a video-stimulated situational judgment test, covering nursing-specific stressful situations that were validated by field experts. Complementing group comparisons, intervention effects at the individual level were examined using regression analysis while controlling for other predictors.

The highest solution rates with regard to the two basic competence dimensions of:
(1) situation assessment and
(2) strategy selection and justification occurred in the treatment classes without a pretest.

At the individual level, treatment effects were confirmed for the first dimension. Both the instructional approach and the competence test provide valuable foundations for the promotion and diagnosis of stress coping skills.

Subsequent studies should examine adaptive support for different learner groups and, further, include observational phases focusing on the deliberate practice of acquired coping strategies at practical training sites.

References:
[1] Friganović, A., Selič, P. & Ilić, B. (2019). Stress and burnout syndrome and their associations with coping and job satisfaction in critical care nurses: a literature review. Psychiatria Danubina, 31(suppl. 1), 21-31.
[2] Lorente, L., Vera, M. & Peiró, T. (2021). Nurses stressors and psychological distress during the COVID‐19 pandemic: The mediating role of coping and resilience. Journal of advanced nursing, 77(3), 1335-1344.
[3] Thomas, C. M., Bantz, D. L. & McIntosh, C. E. (2019). Nurse faculty burnout and strategies to avoid it. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 14(2), 111-116.

Keywords:

Nursing profession, Occupational stress, Coping skills, Competence-oriented education.