Abstract

Nursing students have moderate to high levels of stress due to responsibilities, high expectations, course grades, and clinical requirements. The practice problem identified for this evidence-based practice project was that undergraduate nursing students had elevated levels of stress but did not know how to manage it. Multiple interventions have been used to address the problem, including positive thinking, mindfulness, resilience training, and distraction-focused therapies. The PICOT question “Will resilience training (I) for entry-level BSN students (P) affect stress (O) in less than three months (T)?” was developed to guide the systematic search for evidence. Based on the evidence, one hour resilience training was implemented one day a week for six weeks starting at the beginning of the semester so that students had the opportunity to use their new skills as their stress increased through the semester. The training sessions included general resilience, communication/relationship building, physical exercise, self-care, positive thinking, and mental health resources. Mean stress scores, measured using the Perceived Stress Scale, decreased 6.15%, from 16.25 before the training to 15.25 after the training, which was consistent with the body of evidence. The resilience training was therefore effective in decreasing stress in the undergraduate nursing students in this project. Integration of resilience training into an established course would promote student participation and enhance sustainability of the resilience training program.

Date of publication

5-2024

Document Type

DNP Scholarly Project

Language

english

Persistent identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4689

Committee members

Lauri D. John, PhD, RN, CNS; Gina M. Nickels-Nelson, DNP, FNP-BC

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Available for download on Saturday, May 09, 2026

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