Stress and Resilience of Nursing Students in Clinical Training During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Palestinian Perspective

Abstract

Introduction Stress reduces nursing students’ capacity to think critically, impedes decision-making, and eventually lowers academic performance and limits success. The circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak drove students into new virtual learning settings, adding stress to their academic responsibilities. Objectives The purpose of this study was to assess the perceived stress and resilience among nursing students in clinical training during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted on 315 students studying nursing. Data collection utilized the Perceived Stress Scale and the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale. Results The analysis revealed that the stress score mean was 75.2 ± 6.6 and the resilience score mean was 26.0 ± 3.4. Also, there was a weak negative association between nursing students’ stress and their resilience ( p < 0.05). Additionally, the results indicated statistically significant differences between stress and gender, study year level, and age ( p < 0.05). Conclusion Stress was high and resilience was moderate during the COVID-19 pandemic among nursing students.