7. The comparison of the hardiness of 3rd to 4th year nursing students in Japan (104)

Yuko Uesugi, Nursing teacher.Assistant professor., Faculty of Health sciences, Department of nursing, Kobe University School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan
Co authors: Nao Saitoh, Ikuko Miyawaki, Atsuko Fukuda, Yasuhiro Nakanishi & Mamiko Yada
uesugi@kobe-u.ac.jp

Abstract:

Introduction:

Generally, nursing students experience strong stress during mandatory hospital placements. In Japan, there are studies of nursing studentsf stress but not of their hardiness. Hardiness of personality is well documented. Individualsf perceptions of and capabilities to deal with stressor events are of more consequence than events themselves (Kobasa, 1979). We studied the hardiness of nursing students during their 3rd and 4th year hospital placements.

Method:

The subject population was nursing students from a university in Japan. A hardiness questionnaire was used to evaluate if specific subjective personality characteristics could function as resistance resources when encountering stressful life events. Hardy people are considered to possess three general characteristics:
• An ability to feel deeply involved in or commitment to activities(commitment)
• The belief that they can control or affect events (control)
• The anticipation of change as an exciting challenge to further development(challenge). We evaluated the same students twice at a one year interval during 3rd to 4th years

The score were analyzed by paired-t test using SPSS 15.0 J for Windows. Kobe Universityfs ethics committee approved this study.

Results:

Of the 53 subjects, 50(94.3%) were females and 3(5.7%) were males. Mean age was 21.6(±3.8) years old. The mean scores for total hardiness, commitment, control and challenge for 3rd year were 51.4(±7.8), 18.2(±4.0), 17.2(±3.0),and 16.1(±3.2)A while for 4th year they were 53.0(±7.2), 19.4(±3.3), 17.2(±2.7), 16.4(±3.0).There were significant differences in hardiness (p<0.05) and commitment(‚<0.01).

Discussion:

Though the total hardiness score showed significant change between 3rd and 4th year students, this significance arises primarily from increasing commitment. A limitation of this study was the small number of participants. We will have to continue to study and discuss.

Biography:

Yuko Uesugi, RN, MA (Nursing), Assistant Professor,Kobe University School of Medicine. Faculty of Health Sciences. Two years ago, after having practiced as a nurse for 5years,I became an assistant professor at Kobe University. I have been studying the stress of nursing students to assist in their critical transitions from training to active clinical practice.