Attitudes of Coping with Stress and Self-Care Agency Levels of Nursing Students

INTRODUCTION: In cases of deviation from health, such as stress, self-care needs arise. It is important that nursing students develop an effective attitude in coping with stress and have a high level of self-care power. This study was carried out to determine the relationship between nursing students’ stress-coping attitudes and self-care agency levels.
METHODS: A descriptive and correlational design was used in this study. Sample of the study consisted of 416 students studying at a Nursing Faculty in Istanbul in the spring semester of 2017-2018. Data were collected by using Structured Questionnaire Form, the New Brief Coping Styles Inventory, and Exercise of Self-Care Agency Scale, and descriptive statistical methods, Student’s t-test, one-way ANOVA test, Bonferroni test, linear regression, and Pearson correlation analysis were used.
RESULTS: It was observed that the average age of the nursing students was 20.68 ± 1.76 (min: 18-max: 34) years and of which 81.0% were female and 25.0% were fourth-grade students. It was determined that nursing students mostly used the “self-confident approach” as a way of coping with stress. A positive correlation between “self-confident approach” subscale score and self-care agency score was found statistically significant (r: 0.510; P <.01). Family income level, participation in social activities/dealing with hobby, and smoking were found to be independent risk factors for self-care agency.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Nursing students should be encouraged to participate in social activities/hobbies to increase their self-care agency. Determining the attitudes of coping with stress and self-care agency of nursing students is important to plan the necessary interventions.