Degree Name

Nursing Practice, DNP

Publication Date

6-17-2024

Upload Date

2024

First Advisor

Linda Latting

Abstract

Nursing students experience moderate to severe anxiety related to the rigor of nursing programs. Anxiety often leads to poor performance on exams and skills evaluations. When anxiety is not limited, it can contribute to nursing students being unable to progress in the nursing program and high attrition rates. The National League of Nursing (2021) estimates the attrition rate for nursing students in the United States at 20%. Attrition rates for associate degree programs are even greater and estimated to be around 50% (Kubec, 2017, as cited in Priode et al., 2020). This DNP quality improvement project looks to examine the impact of coping strategies education on nursing students’ anxiety in comparison to the students not receiving education on coping strategies in the nursing program. The sample consisted of 30 Associate of Applied Science Nursing students in the first semester of the nursing program at a community college. The Westside Test Anxiety Scale pretest and posttest scores showed a significant change after the intervention which consisted of education on coping strategies. The mean of the pre-test scores was m=3.68 and the mean of the post-test scores was m=2.88 using the Sample Paired t-test. The results imply education on coping strategies has a positive impact on anxiety experienced by nursing students and it is recommended to incorporate education on coping strategies in a structured manner in the nursing curriculum.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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