The impact of stress, coping, constructive thinking and hardiness on health and academic performance of female registered nurse students pursuing a baccalaureate degree in nursing

Abstract

<p>The purpose of this study was to test a theoretically-derived model of hardiness, constructive thinking, coping complexity and perceived stress level in predicting academic performance and perceived health status among female registered nurse students pursuing a baccalaureate degree in nursing. It was hypothesized that hardiness and constructive thinking would directly affect perceived stress level and coping complexity and indirectly affect perceived health status and academic performance. Neuman's Systems Model together with Lazarus and Folkman's theory on stress provided the theoretical framework. The sample consisted of 145 registered nurse students enrolled in one of four baccalaureate nursing programs in a large metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania. Subjects completed the RN Student Stress Scale, the Ways of Coping Checklist (Revised) the Constructive Thinking Inventory, the Personal Views Survey, the General Health Rating Index and a demographic data sheet. A structural equation model using the LISREL VIII computer program (Joreskog &amp; Sorbom, 1993) was used to test the goodness of fit between the proposed model and the data. The hypothesized model did not fit the data. The original model was modified and retested using the same data. The revised model fit the data however, several of the path coefficients identified relationships that were not significant. By eliminating the non-significant paths, a reduced model was created. In the reduced model hardiness had a direct, inverse relationship with perceived stress level and perceived stress level had a direct effect on coping complexity. Thus, the relationship between hardiness and coping complexity was mediated by perceived stress level. In addition, hardiness had a direct effect on perceived health status. It was also determined that the greatest stresses associated with returning to school for these RN students were fulfilling multiple roles, loss of time with family and friends, lack of time for leisure and being overwhelmed by the amount of schoolwork. Knowledge gleaned from this study can be used by nurse educators and nurse administrators in assisting registered nurse students to reduce or manage stresses in their educational and practice environments.</p>