Factors causing stress among first-year students attending a nursing college in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

ResearchIn South Africa (SA), higher education students exhibit progressively poor success rates.[1] The Council on Higher Education (CHE) observed that only 35% of all first-year entrants graduate within 5 years.[1] In KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Province, SA, the majority of nurses are trained at a college of nursing, which has satellite campuses throughout the province. [2] There is, however, a high failure rate among these students, mostly in the first year of study. Because of academic failure, 22% of students leave the training programme after the first year [3] -a precarious situation, considering the shortage of professional nurses faced by the country. [4,5] In an attempt to address this high attrition rate, the admission criteria for entry into the programme were increased, but this did not have a noticeable influence on the pass rate.Students entering SA higher education institutions usually come from a wide range of cultural and social backgrounds, with resultant varying life experiences and educational opportunities, including different expectations, needs and academic potential.[6] Academic success does not entirely consist of one's application of intellectual capacity. There are many other factors that directly or indirectly affect academic success. These include the transition from secondary school to university, student motivation, study methods, teaching strategies, interaction between students, academic and social systems of the university, cultural expectations, psychosocial factors and lack of finances. [7][8][9][10] One or more of these factors could lead to stress, which could hinder academic potential by distracting students' focus from their studies. [11] Research has shown that self-concept positively affects the success of nursing students' ability to manage anxiety and stress related to studying.Specifically, if a student is confident in his/her ability and remains motivated, he/she is more likely to succeed academically, resulting in lower dropout rates. Whereas the overwhelming stress associated with test anxiety has a negative relationship with academic achievements, this could lead to a decrease in the academic success of students. [12] The nursing programme also contains both intensive coursework and practical components at hospitals, which may become overwhelming and stressful with regard to a student's ability to cope with examinations. [12] Attrition rates among nursing students remain high, irrespective of attempts by institutions to provide strategies such as selection in line with quality of students, and implementing student mentoring and tutoring.It is unknown whether the stress factors that affect students attending a large university with many different faculties are different from those of students who attend smaller tertiary institutions that train them in one particular course only. In nursing, stress factors related to the clinical learning environment are well documented. [10,13,14] The increased stress of nursing students is due to the simultaneous learning in both academ...

Factors associated with emotional exhaustion in undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students

“…University students in general, [8,22] and nursing students in particular, [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] experience numerous stressors during their academic life, which affect their emotional wellbeing. This is the first cross-sectional study investigating and comparing the emotional wellbeing of undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students in SA.…”

“…Nursing students may be more vulnerable to the harmful effects of secondary stress, as they are developing the skills necessary to fulfil their professional roles effectively. [5] They are also faced with academic stressors, [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] such as practical training in environments characterised by high patient loads, insufficient resources and long working hours; [12] lack of professional knowledge and skills; [5] and unclear roles and responsibilities. [8,10] While nursing education fosters empathy and compassion in the student nurse to prepare them for their professional role of caring for others, [13] ongoing empathetic and compassionate behaviour and stress pave the way for burnout and compassion fatigue.…”

Construct validity and reliability of the perceived stress scale for nursing students in South Africa

“…The sources of stress of nursing students can be broadly categorised as clinical, academic, and personal. They include stress from lack of professional knowledge, clinical environment, taking care of patients, assignments and workload, teachers and nursing staff, peers and daily life (Aedh et al 2015 :34–36; Ahmed & Mohammed 2019 :119; Alsaqri 2017 :3; Hamaideh, Al-Omari & Al-Modallal 2017 :200; Karaca et al 2017 :34; Khater, Akhu-Zaheya & Shaban 2014 :198; Labrague 2013 :427–428; Labrague et al 2018 :404–405; Mohamed & El-Hafez 2015 :42; Ugwoke et al 2018 :13214–13215), long working hours, poor study methods (Langtree, Razak & Haffejee 2018 :92), poor grades, inability to balance work and leisure, difficulty in balancing clinical work and studying and the humiliating behaviour of doctors (Parveen & Inayat 2017 :3–4).…”

“…Furthermore, there are limited African studies that have utilised this instrument, and neither tested the factor structure of the scale (Labrague et al 2018 :402–408; Ugwoke et al 2018 :13212–13218). In particular, Langtree et al ( 2018 :91) reported developing a new questionnaire to identify the causes of stress in first-year South African nursing students, as there was not an appropriate research instrument for their study. With this in mind, the paper aims to test, for the first time, the hypothesised six-factor latent structure and establish the construct validity and internal consistency of the PSS for South African nursing students.…”

Reflecting on our society?

“…These findings reflect the reality of conducting research. Langtree et al [3] report on factors contributing to stress in nursing students, whereas Moodley et al [4] address stress in the dental profession. While the causes of stress were different in these two study cohorts, both studies recommend the inclusion of stress management programmes in undergraduate curricula.…”