A Survey of Student Nurses' Attitudes Toward Help Seeking for Stress

BACKGROUND: Globally, stress in student nurses may have serious implications for health, absenteeism, and attrition. Despite this, there is scant research on student nurses' attitudes toward help seeking. OBJECTIVES: To examine student nurses' attitudes toward stress and help-seeking. DESIGN METHODS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey design was employed to gather data from 219 student nurses at two large U.K. universities. Two-sample chi-square tests and Fisher's exact tests were used to analyze categorical associations between responses. RESULTS: Most had experienced stress before, believed the incidence within the profession was high, and would disclose their own stress to family/friends rather than to colleagues or professional institutions. The most popular outpatient treatment choice was social support; few would choose formal advice. The most common factor influencing inpatient treatment choice was confidentiality; for many, this factor would also lead them to seek distant rather than local inpatient care. Encouragingly, most would not lose confidence in a stressed colleague. CONCLUSIONS: Negative attitudes toward stress and help seeking may be entrenched even before training and may have a marked influence on how/whether students seek help. Nurse employers and educators should foster more supportive and accepting attitudes toward stress in order to tackle its unwanted consequences.