Stressors among Nurse Interns and Their Perception Regarding Coping Strategies

Abstract

Abstract Background: Stress is seen as a modern society’s illness experienced by professionals from different sectors. It has effects on people’s behaviors, communications and efficiency. Healthcare systems usually provide many stimulus that produce stress especially at the beginning of the nursing career due to the differences between the real world and the ideal world of nursing "reality shock". The aim of this study was to assess the stress levels among nurse interns, determining stressors facing nurse interns from their points of view and investigate nurse interns' perception regarding stress coping strategies. A descriptive design was used in this study. The study was conducted at Ain- Shams University, El-Demerdash, Pediatrics, and cardiovascular hospitals. The sample included all the available nurse interns having their training in the aforementioned settings they were 110 nurse interns. Three tools were used for data collection in this study namely, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14), The Stressors Scale, and Coping Behavior Inventory (CBI). The results of this study revealed that one third of the nurse interns had moderate level of stress, and the most stressor experienced by them was stressor from hospital staff and the least one was stressors from taking care of patient, regarding their perception of preferring coping strategies the avoidance was the most preferred and transference was the least preferred. In conclusion the results provided valuable information for clinical educators and clinical staff in identifying students’ needs, facilitating their learning in the clinical setting and developing effective interventions to reduce the stress they encounter. The study recommended providing nurse interns with adequate orientation program in the beginning of their training period to provide guidance and help, supporting them with periodical workshops to improve their skills, and assisting them to overcome any stressors facing them during the internship year.