Stressors and Coping Strategies of the Saudi Nursing Students in the Clinical Training: A Cross-Sectional Study

Table 2

Stressors perceived by nursing students in clinical training.

Stress factor	Factor ranking	Item ranking	Mean	SD
Stress from lack of professional knowledge and skills	2	—	2.70	.89
Unfamiliar with medical history and terms		28	2.34	1.11
Unfamiliar with professional nursing skills		2	2.92	1.27
Unfamiliar with patients’ diagnoses and treatments		5	2.85	1.24
Stress from assignments and workload	1		2.89	.86
Worry about poor grades		1	3.03	1.09
Pressure from the nature and quality of clinical practice		3	2.90	1.29
Feelings that performance does not meet teachers’ expectations		7	2.80	1.31
Feelings that dull and inflexible clinical practice affect family/social life		4	2.88	1.18
Feelings that the demands of clinical practice exceed physical and emotional endurance		6	2.84	1.27
Stress from taking care of patients	4	—	2.68	.81
Lack of experience and ability in providing nursing care and in making judgment		26	2.49	1.42
Not knowing how to help patients with physio-psycho-social problems		8	2.78	1.29
Unable to reach expectations		10	2.75	1.27
Unable to provide appropriate responses to doctors’, teachers’, and patients’ questions		17	2.67	1.34
Worry about not being trusted or accepted by patients or their families		12	2.73	1.28
Unable to provide patients with good nursing care		15	2.68	1.38
Not knowing how to communicate with patients		25	2.53	1.43
Difficulties in changing from the role of a student to that of a nurse		9	2.76	1.29
Stress from clinical environment	3		2.68	1.07
Feelings of stress in the environment where clinical practice takes place		13	2.73	1.40
Unfamiliarity with ward facilities		19	2.65	1.42
Feelings of stress from rapid changes in a patient’s condition		18	2.67	1.33
Stress from teachers and nursing staff	6	—	2.52	.86
Seeing a discrepancy between theory and practice		23	2.55	1.46
Not knowing how to discuss a patient’s illness with teachers or medical and nursing personnel		29	2.20	1.50
Feelings of stress when a teacher’s instruction is different from expectations		14	2.73	1.22
Medical personnel lacking empathy and willingness to help		11	2.75	1.12
Feelings that teachers do not evaluate students fairly		24	2.55	1.38
Lack of care and guidance from teachers		27	2.39	1.48
Stress from peers and daily life	5	—	2.63	.95
Experience of competition from peers in school and clinical practice		22	2.56	1.48
Feelings of pressure from teachers who evaluate students’ performance by comparison		16	2.68	1.41
Feelings that clinical practice affects involvement in extracurricular activities		20	2.65	1.29
Inability to get along with group peers		21	2.64	1.42

N = 200.