INTRODUCTION: Nursing students suffer from high levels of stress related to academic assignments in addition to clinical skills training. As a psychosocial phenomenon, stress affects students’ academic achievement and wellbeing. Coping mechanisms help students deal with the challenges arising from stress.AIMS: To illustrate the level of stress and common stressors among nursing students; to describe the difference in stress level related to demographic data; and to identify coping mechanisms used by nursing students.METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the type of stress and coping strategies among nursing students. The level of stress was evaluated through Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and type of coping strategies were assessed by use of Coping Behaviours Inventory (CBI).RESULTS: Students perceived moderate level of stress, most commonly attributed to assignments and workload, teachers and nursing staff, peers and daily life, and taking care of patients. The most frequently used coping mechanism was problem solving. The study found that age, GPA, education level and residence are good predictors of the use of transference as a coping behaviour.CONCLUSION: A moderate level of stress among students illustrates the need for stress management programs and the provision of suitable support.

Background:This paper explores the opportunities and challenges for integrating patient safety education in undergraduate nursing curriculum.Methods:Four dimensions of undergraduate nursing education are examined: National accreditation of nursing programs, building a competency-based nursing education, a model of nursing education and building faculty capacity in patient safety education and research.Results:Incorporating patient safety in a nursing curriculum can be “institutionalized” by making it a pre-requisite for granting program accreditation. At the operational level, transforming undergraduate nursing education to incorporate inquiry-based learning and moving toward competency-based patient safety education are two key requirements for engaging the students with patient safety science. Building faculty capacity who are experts in both patient safety teaching and research remains a key challenge that needs to be addressed to enable a shift in the patient safety “mindset” for future nursing workforce.Conclusion:Efforts to introduce patient safety in nursing education are both necessary and timely, and should accommodate students’ unique needs and cultural context.

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Background: Excessive internet usage is a worldwide problematic issue among young adults and college students. Previous studies showed that Saudi young adults are involved in this problem. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of Internet Addiction (IA), and to find out its relation with depressive symptoms, sleep quality, and demographic variables. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. Data were collected from 341 nursing students in Saudi Arabia using three scales: Young’s Internet Addiction Test, Central Epidemiologic Scale for Depression and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results: The results showed that 35.1% of students were suffering from frequent problems and 0.9% were suffering from significant problems due to heavy internet usage. The correlation results found a positive moderate correlation between IA and depression (r = 0.401, p < 0.001) and a positive weak correlation with sleep quality (r = 0. 196, p = 0.002). Sleeping and depression were weakly correlated (r = 0.274, p < 0.001). Regression analysis revealed that IA was associated with: smoking status, high family income, duration of usage (3-6 hours and >6 hours), and depressive symptoms. The depressive level was associated with duration of usage (>6 hours), students’ grading point average (GPA), IA, and sleep quality. Sleep quality was found to be associated with duration of usage (>6 hours) and having depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The findings illustrate the need for proper management of internet usage, as well as developing plans to avoid the negative consequences of internet addiction on psychological wellbeing by incorporating nursing education programs about appropriate internet usage.

Background: Substance abuse is a major public health issue worldwide, particularly manifesting during the late adolescent and early adult period. Each culture has distinct beliefs and unique ways of raising children. Cultural differences in parenting beliefs and behaviors are an interesting area that enhances understanding of the nature of differences across cultures. Substance abuse risk may be related to family sociocultural factors; however, there are limited studies that address the relationships between pertinent variables. Objective: To examine and compare family sociocultural factors, sensation seeking, and risk of drug involvement among Egyptian and Saudi university students. Methods: The study employed a comparative correlational descriptive design using two-stage cluster sampling techniques. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires distributed to students enrolled in Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) in Saudi Arabia and Damanhur University (DU) in Egypt. Results: The study showed that Egyptian and Saudi students with a higher percentage of supportive parent relationships have less risk of drug involvement. In both countries, cigarette smoking was the first substance used. Moreover, factors predicting the risk of drug involvement and regression analysis revealed that male students had five times more risk of drug involvement than their female peers, keeping all other factors constant (OR = 5.734; 95%CI:3.231-10.174), while highly supportive paternal relationship reduced the risk of drug involvement by 85% (OR = 0.148; 95% CI: 0.045-0.489). Conclusion: The risk for substance abuse in both cultural settings was moderate, and smoking was the most common substance used. Moreover, a highly supportive paternal relationship reduced the risk of drug involvement by 85%.