Stress, Grit, Satisfaction With Life, and Remediation of Prelicensure Nursing Students

BACKGROUND: Stress and poor academic performance often lead to high levels of nursing school attrition. PURPOSE: To explore nursing students' perceived stress, grit, and satisfaction with life, and assess the effectiveness of a remediation program for students at risk for poor academic performance. METHODS: Perceived stress, grit, and satisfaction with life were measured, and the effect of remediation given to at-risk students was studied. Examination and psychometric scores were compared between remediation and nonremediation groups. RESULTS: The remediation group had higher levels of perceived stress and a lower satisfaction with life compared with the rest of the cohort. Remediation significantly improved examination scores of at-risk students although scores remained lower than those among nonremediation students. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived stress and grit scores were high in nursing students, and satisfaction varied among age groups. Remediation based on metacognitive theory significantly improved at-risk students' examination scores.