Anxiety, perceived stress and coping strategies in nursing students: a cross-sectional, correlational, descriptive study

Abstract

Background: For many nursing students, clinical training represents a stressful experience. The levels of stress and anxiety may vary during students’ educational training, depending on their ability to adopt behavioral strategies for coping with stress, and other factors. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between anxiety, perceived stress, and the coping strategies used by nursing students during their clinical training. Methods: A cross-sectional correlational descriptive study. The sample consisted of 190 nursing students enrolled in the Nursing Faculty of Ciudad Real University in Spain. Participants provided data on background characteristics and completed the following instruments: the Perceived Stress Scale; the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Coping Behavior Inventory. Relationships between scores were examined using Spearman’s rho. Results: The mean age of participants was 20.71 ± 3.89 years (range 18–46 years). Approximately half of the students (47.92%) indicated a moderate level of stress with a mean Perceived Stress Scale score of 22.78 (±8.54). Senior nursing students perceived higher levels of stress than novice students. The results showed a significant correlation for perceived stress and state anxiety (r = 0.463, p