Anxiety among Nursing Students towards Clinical Placement during COVID-19 in a Tertiary Hospital of Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: The world is facing the pandemic of COVID-19 caused by the corona virus since December 2019 and has caused millions of death throughout the world. Exposure of nursing students in clinical placement during pandemic is fearful and stressful with high risk of infection which can cause anxiety and different levels of psychological crisis to individuals. The main objective of the study is to find out the prevalence of anxiety among nursing students during clinical placement in the pandemic of COVID-19. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 144 nursing students enrolled in different clinical placement of a tertiary hospital of Nepal from 20th January 2021 to 2nd February 2021. Ethical approval was received from the Institutional Review Committee. Demographic, COVID-19 related and Beck Anxiety Inventory questionnaires was used for assessing anxiety. Whole sampling was done. Descriptive statistics was conducted using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 2016 version. Results: Out of 144 females enrolled in the study, all the nursing students 144 (100%) having clinical placement had anxiety. Among them, 117 (81%) had mild anxiety and 27 (19%) had moderate level of anxiety. All the students used coping strategies for the anxiety. The most commonly used strategy to cope with anxiety was religion (5.03±1.78). Conclusions: All the nursing students had anxiety during the clinical placement and all the students used the coping strategies for the anxiety. Majority of the nursing students had mild anxiety. Religion was most common method of strategy to cope with anxiety.

Mental Health Among Medical Students During COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Table 1 shows the overall characteristics of the 41 included studies ( Elhadi et al, 2020 ; Jindal et al, 2020 ; Liu et al, 2020 ; Medeiros et al, 2020 ; Muhammad Alfareed Zafar et al, 2020 ; Nadeem et al, 2020 ; Nakhostin-Ansari et al, 2020 ; Nihmath Nisha et al, 2020 ; Sartorao Filho Carlos et al, 2020 ; Sun et al, 2020 ; Adhikari et al, 2021 ; Banstola et al, 2021 ; Basheti et al, 2021 ; Bilgi et al, 2021 ; Gao et al, 2021 ; Guo et al, 2021 ; Gupta et al, 2021 ; Halperin et al, 2021 ; Kalkan Uğurlu et al, 2021 ; Kaplan Serin and Doğan, 2021 ; Keskin, 2021 ; Kuman Tunçel et al, 2021 ; Li et al, 2021 ; Mekhemar et al, 2021 ; Meng et al, 2021 ; Nishimura et al, 2021 ; Patelarou et al, 2021 ; Pavan et al, 2021 ; Pelaccia et al, 2021 ; Perissotto et al, 2021 ; Saeed and Javed, 2021 ; Safa et al, 2021 ; Song et al, 2021 ; Xiao et al, 2021 ; Xie et al, 2021 ; Yadav et al, 2021 ; Yang et al, 2021 ; Yin et al, 2021 ; Zhang et al, 2021a ; Zheng et al, 2021 ; Zhu et al, 2021 ). On the whole, 40 cross-sectional studies and 1 longitudinal study were included in our study.…”

The impact of COVID-19 on students’ anxiety and its clarification: a systematic review

“…The intervention had positive results, and effective alternatives to conventional psychotherapy included behavioral therapy and online mindfulness programs ( Liang et al, 2021 ; Simonsson et al, 2021 ). Some studies have suggested that positive approach coping strategies for COVID-19 are better than negative avoidance coping strategies in improving stress and anxiety ( Banstola et al, 2021 ; Chan et al, 2022 ). A review of the literature identified 18 articles related to COVID-19, anxiety, stress, and the effects of different interventions (all studies are summarized in Table 1 ).…”

“…Lovecraft wrote: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” ( Joshi and Schultz, 2001 ; p. 255). Therefore, among the 18 included studies, five were of the opinion that we should actively face COVID-19 and that increasing its understanding through various means would help reduce students’ stress and anxiety ( Banstola et al, 2021 ; Kheirallah et al, 2021 ; Simegn et al, 2021 ; Yildirim et al, 2021 ; Chan et al, 2022 ).…”

“…The study of 202 medical students in Hong Kong about their mental health status, stress coping strategies, and their relationship proved that respondents who adopted an approach strategy had higher Ryff scores than those with avoidant coping strategies, suggesting that approach strategies are more effective in stress management than the more dysfunctional avoidant strategies ( Chan et al, 2022 ). Similarly, Banstola et al (2021) suggested that adopting adaptive coping strategies helps reduce pandemic-related mental health problems. Kheirallah et al (2021) suggested that students’ use of social media to increase access to COVID-19 information had a significant effect on reducing emotional distress.…”

“…255). Therefore, among the 18 included studies, five were of the opinion that we should actively face COVID-19 and that increasing its understanding through various means would help reduce students' stress and anxiety (Banstola et al, 2021;Kheirallah et al, 2021;Simegn et al, 2021;Yildirim et al, 2021;Chan et al, 2022).…”