Occupational risk perception of nursing students, affecting factors and their association with occupational accidents: A crosssectional, multicenter study

Abstract

Aim: Occupational risks by leading to accidents and diseases can adversely affect the health of nursing students and can cause serious injuries. Therefore, students are expected to be aware of these risks in order to be aware of occupational accidents or diseases and take precautions. This study was aimed to evaluate the occupational risk perception of nursing students and the factors affecting it and their association with occupational accidents. Material and Methods: Study was carried out with 728 nursing students in six universities. The data were collected using “Data Gathering Form” prepared by researchers and “Occupational Risk Perception Scale (ORPS)”. Results: The mean age was 20.8±1.65 (min.18-max.35) years and the majority (82.0%) of the participants were females. Clinical practice areas were defined as high risk areas by the 65.1% of the students. Number of the students encountered any health threatening occupational accidents in clinical practice was 223 (30.6%). ORPS score was significantly higher in women, health vocational high school graduates, students with previos occupational health and safety training and students those who encountered occupational accidents before (p