Abstract

Research has demonstrated that anxiety can have a detrimental effect on learning and performance. Of great concern is the impact of anxiety on nursing students. By extension, additional research has shown that nursing students experience extremely high levels of anxiety, higher than many students in other programs. Specifically, nursing students have moderate to severe levels of anxiety due to many aspects of the educational program, but particularly when beginning clinical practice. Anxiety when beginning clinical practice among nursing students can cause negative outcomes in learning and performance. That is, when nursing students experience severe anxiety, they may experience the inability to critically think and problem solve, therefore inhibiting their ability to perform in a clinical setting successfully and safely. This can lead to poor patient outcomes. Many interventions have been found to help decrease anxiety in nursing students, and simulation is cited frequently as a methodology to lessen anxiety related to clinical practice by helping the student to feel better prepared for practice. The study was a mixed-methods randomized-controlled design conducted over 8 weeks in a single semester at a metropolitan public university in the Midwest. The study examined the effect of a self-guided simulation of a clinical experience on nursing students' anxiety related to beginning clinical practice.

Author Details

Karen M. Vargas, PhD, RN, CNE

Sigma Membership

Zeta Theta at-Large

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Randomized Controlled Trial

Research Approach

Mixed/Multi Method Research

Keywords:

Anxiety, Nursing Students, Critical Thinking, Clinical Practice

Advisor

Lisa Pescara-Kovach

Second Advisor

Victoria Dagostino-Kalniz

Third Advisor

Martha Sexton

Fourth Advisor

Robert Topp

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

The University of Toledo

Degree Year

2023

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2024-09-26

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