Mental health nursing practicum: Student and mentor perspectives on stress and satisfaction

Abstract

Nursing students begin to complete practcum experiences during their frst year, increasing the number of applied credits as they progress toward degree completon. This contributes to integratng knowledge and skills from all of their courses and to obtaining the basic competencies of the nursing profession. It is also essental to identfy the student's sources of stress in order to provide strategies to confront them and diminish the potental consequences. Therefore, it is a priority to ascertain the percepton of stress and the stressors. This study applied both quanttatve and quality methods to achieve its objectves: to analyze the percepton of stress and the stress-generatng factors faced by third-and fourth-year nursing students during the mental health practcum, and to determine satsfacton with the new mental health practcum in a student survey and in a focus group of mentor nurses. Study results identfed four major stress factors before students began the practcum: the difculty of providing nursing care for the patent with a mental disorder, knowing how to react in an unfamiliar situaton, lack of knowledge about mental health services, and the possibility of patent aggression. Only the later remained as a stressor afer the practcum was completed. Student satsfacton with the mental health practcum was highly positve. Mentor nurses were partcularly satsfed with the changes in student follow-up and evaluaton, emphasizing the importance of refectve practce and students' self-management of their learning experience as set out by the European Higher Educaton Area.

Estrés en estudiantes de enfermería: una revisión sistemática

“…En España, Gelabert et al (35), identificaron cuatro principales factores de estrés antes de que los estudiantes comenzaran la práctica: la dificultad de proporcionar cuidados de enfermería a un paciente con trastorno mental, saber cómo reaccionar en una situación desconocida, falta de conocimiento sobre los servicios de salud mental y la posibilidad de la agresión de pacientes.…”

Experienced Pediatric Oncology Nurses Using Self-Reflective Practices in the Clinical Setting: A Phenomenological Investigation

“…Nursing students use self-reflective practices to communicate and process their emotions in the clinical setting, and it may translate into better care for the patients (Bailey & Graham, 2007;Chong, 2009;Rees, 2013). Reflective practice is mostly used to help students learn how to manage their feelings of stress (Gelabert-Vilella et al, 2014;Karimi et al, 2017;King-Okoye & Arber, 2014). The critical care setting can be emotionally challenging for nursing students.…”

“…Learning to process emotions and using self-reflective practices can encourage nursing students to learn and develop confidence in their clinical skills. This confidence is especially evident with nursing students who care for cancer and mental health patients (Gelabert-Vilella et al, 2014;King-Okoye & Arber, 2014).…”

“…Self-reflection can be used to communicate difficult topics with patients and to reduce feelings of stress and burnout (Gelabert-Vilella et al, 2014;King-Okoye & Arber, 2014;O'Neill et al, 2019;Rees, 2013). To begin this research, I focused my attention on describing the lived experiences of bedside nurses currently employed in pediatric oncology.…”