Abstract

Anxiety is an emotion that can interfere with the academic performance, health, and prosperity of nursing students. Understanding the experiences as perceived by the student may assist in uncovering the underlying causes of clinical practicum induced anxiety to facilitate further research for appropriate interventions that may help students mitigate their anxiety. This qualitative study used a hermeneutic, phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of nursing students who experience significant anxiety regarding clinical practicum rotations. The findings from this study resulted in the overall theme, Am I Really Meant for Nursing? Four subthemes derived from this overall theme were (1) The only certainty is uncertainty, (2) I'm so sorry I'm here, (3) I should be perfect, and (4) It's not worth my mental health. Findings suggests clinical practicums endured with anxiety may further physical, psychological, and behavioral attributes of anxiousness, which includes psychosomatic symptomology, inability to recall information, lowered self-esteem, and alienation from nursing. The gleaned insight into the differing aspects of the phenomenon may provide structure for the development of interventions to mitigate nursing students' practicum anxiety and provide a foundation that sets the stage for positive clinical experiences of future nursing students.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 30000522; ProQuest document ID: 2748266004. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Cherlynn D. Hill, PhD, MSN, RN, FCN, PMH-BC

Sigma Membership

Zeta Delta at-Large

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Phenomenology

Research Approach

Qualitative Research

Keywords:

Clinical Practicums, Nursing Students, Anxiety, Stressors

Advisor

Dia Campbell-Detrixhe

Second Advisor

Elizabeth Diener

Third Advisor

Casey Cassidy

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

Oklahoma City University

Degree Year

2022

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

2023-11-09

Full Text of Presentation

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