Abstract

Every new nursing graduate is challenged to successfully transition from student to professional nurse. The stress involved in that transition can manifest itself as performance anxiety, a type of anxiety occurring when someone is the focus of attention and is fearful of interactions or of being humiliated or embarrassed. It occurs only in specific situations. The new graduate's performance is the focus of attention and evaluation. Further, the need to interact with other professionals, patients, and families can create anxiety about performance. No studies have examined performance anxiety in graduate nurses. Use of cognitive behavioral therapy, progressive muscle relaxation, and reflective journaling has demonstrated reduction of performance anxiety in musicians and actors. There have been no studies evaluating these interventions in new graduate nurses or in combination to reduce performance anxiety in any population. Peplau's theory of interpersonal relations suggests that relationships play a significant role in mediating anxiety. Because most graduate nurses work with a registered nurse preceptor, it is likely that relationships with preceptors and the level of perceived support from those preceptors could influence the success of transition as well as new graduates' anxiety.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3392121; ProQuest document ID: 304879730. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Georgita L. Tolbert Washington, PhD, MSN, RN-BC

Sigma Membership

Epsilon Sigma at-Large

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Cohort

Research Approach

Mixed/Multi Method Research

Keywords:

New Nursing Graduates, Performance Anxiety, Transition to Professional Nursing

Advisor

Sally Blowers

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

East Tennessee State University

Degree Year

2009

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

2019-08-26

Full Text of Presentation

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