Clinical practice in the psychiatric/mental health nursing (PMHN) field is considered a highly-stressful experience for nursing students. The purpose of the present study was to identify the degrees of stress, the types of stressors, and coping strategies perceived by undergraduate nursing students during their clinical practice in PMHN courses. A descriptive, longitudinal design was used. Sixty-five students registered in PMHN clinical courses were recruited from five Jordanian universities using a systematic random-sampling method. Data collection was conducted in the second semester of the 2012-2013 academic year at two points of time: pre-PMHN clinical training and post-PMHN training. The Basic Information Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, and Coping Behavior Inventory were administered. Students' ages ranged from 20 to 25 years. The findings illustrate that the highest reported types of stressors at both data-collection times were taking care of patients, stress related to teachers and nursing staff, and from assignments and workloads. The most utilized coping strategy at both data-collection times was problem solving. The findings of the present study are useful for clinical educators in identifying nursing students' stressors, easing their learning in the clinical setting, and establishing an efficient PMHN course programme.

This review expands current knowledge in the area of stress in clinical settings and calls for further research. Nursing teachers should utilize the findings of this review to direct their students during clinical practice. Moreover, hospital administrators need to promote policies to promote a training environment where students are supported and inspired.

This study should raise awareness in nurses and other healthcare providers that IA is a potential problem for this population.

Training in psychiatric settings is stressful for nursing students. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlations between the students' characteristics, their stress degrees, stressors and types of coping strategies they experience during training in psychiatric course. A descriptive, correlational, longitudinal design was used. Sixty-five undergraduate nursing students were recruited randomly from five Jordanian universities. Self-report questionnaires were administered at the second semester of the 2012-2013 academic year. The findings showed that students who utilized avoidance or transference strategies reported high stress degrees. Moreover, the results showed that those students who were in the fourth year, with a low family income, who avoid extracurricular activities, with a low academic grade or who registered in other clinical course(s) reported high stress degrees. These findings present a worthy data for the clinical instructors that facilitate students training in psychiatric settings and promote their psychosocial well-being. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Internet addiction is a significant international mental health problem among university students. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the correlation of Internet addiction with university students' characteristics in Jordan using a descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional design. The Internet Addiction Test, Beck Depression Inventory, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support were administered to a random sample of 587 undergraduate university students. The findings demonstrated that university year level, student age, depression, and family support were significant correlates of Internet addiction. The current study should raise awareness in nurses and other health care providers that Internet addiction is a potential mental health problem for this student population. The findings from the current study will help develop appropriate interventions for these students and inform future research.

PurposeNursing is known to be a stressful profession, as it necessitates constant interaction with different individuals in an environment that is described as highly stressed. The stress phenomenon mainly affects the students of nursing more than other health-related students. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), which is developed by Sheu and colleagues represents the most implemented instrument to examine stress among nursing students that belong to different cultures in different countries. Previous studies have not fully examined the psychometric properties of the PSS, especially in the Arab World. Therefore, this study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of Sheu and colleagues Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), which is used to measure the clinical stress among nursing students.Patients and methodsThis methodological study utilized a cross-sectional design to test the PSS preliminary psychometric properties among 320 nursing students at 5 Jordanian universities.ResultsThe Arabic version of the PSS showed high internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s α was 0.90 in addition to an excellent content validity (CVI was 0.94). The exploratory factor analysis indicated that 54.54% of the total variance was accounted for by the five factors model, which confirmed the construct validity of the Arabic version of PSS. The findings of this study revealed that the Arabic version of PSS can be appropriately implemented among nursing students.ConclusionThis study supports and recommends the use of the Arabic version of PSS to measure clinical stress among nursing students at Jordanian Universities.

Many psychiatric/mental health nursing (PMHN) practices have been affected by old traditions and haphazard trial and error instead of by established scientific evidence. The purpose of this article is to explore and analyze the barriers surrounding evidence-based practice (EBP) in PMHN. I identify some strategies to overcome these barriers in an attempt to incorporate EBP within the framework of PMHN services. Barriers explain the lack of EBP in today's PMHN environment. The barriers identified in this research are: the nature of the evidence, the contribution of the psychiatric nursing researchers to EBP, the personal characteristics of psychiatric nurses, and organizational factors. While the barriers to EBP for PMHN practice are clearly apparent, the challenge, now, is to build up creative strategies through which psychiatric nurses are better able to provide EBP care as part of their everyday performance. Adaptation of a more dynamic form of EBP, increasing the number of PMHN researchers, conducting clinical research projects, choosing suitable journals for publication, training the psychiatric nurses about computer skills, integrating the EBP principles into nursing curricula, developing journal clubs, and offering organizational facilitators are essential prerequisites for the achievement of EBP in the PMHN field. It is no longer justifiable for psychiatric nurses to be deficient in knowledge and skill since the advantages of EBP for patients are well-documented.

University students are frequently using the Internet for educational purposes and for other purposes. Recently, there is a debate on advantages and disadvantages of Internet use and its effects on the students' psychological health. This study examines the prevalence of Internet use, its advantages and disadvantages, and its relationship with the psychological health of university students in the southern part of the West Bank. Mixed methods employing sequential exploratory design were used. Three focused groups were included to inform the development of the cross-sectional survey. Then, a convenience sample of 144 students from three universities in the south West Bank completed the survey. The results revealed that 96 % of university students reported using the Internet. Different advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet among students were emphasized. A high rate of Internet use was associated with students' poor psychological health. Internet use has negative and positive educational, social and psychological consequences for students. However, advantages of Internet use were shown to be more than its disadvantages.