Nursing students’ resilience, depression, well‐being, and academic distress: Testing a moderated mediation model

Abstract

Aim Academic distress is a leading cause of attrition among nursing students. The present study tested a positive psychology‐oriented model detailing the potential links between nursing students’: (a) psychological resilience; (b) depressive symptoms; (c) intrapersonal well‐being; (d) interpersonal well‐being; and (e) academic distress. Additionally, we tested whether the academic benefits of resilience were conditional upon nursing students’ perceptions of their campus climate as supportive of mental health and well‐being. Design A correlational, cross‐sectional design was employed. Method Nursing students (N = 933) were selected from the national 2017–2018 Healthy Minds Study (HMS). Students completed measures of resilience, depressive symptoms, intrapersonal well‐being (flourishing), interpersonal well‐being (belonging), and academic distress. Results Conditional process modelling tested depression, belonging, and flourishing as mediators of the associations between resilience and academic distress variables. Furthermore, perceptions of campus climate were included as potential moderators of these mediation effects. Results indicated that the protective academic benefits of resilience were primarily explained by decreases in depression but that this effect was strongest for nursing students with negative perceptions of their campus climate. Conclusion Findings highlight the psychological and academic benefits of greater resilience and the moderated mediation results suggest that such benefits were conditional on the broader campus climate. Impact Nurse educators and policymakers should consider addressing contextual factors, such as campus climate, in addition to resilience training in their efforts to reduce the negative academic impacts of mental health problems and stress in nursing school.

Stress and depression in undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Nursing students compared to undergraduate students in non-nursing majors

“…Both quantitative and qualitative studies have described U.S. nursing student experiences during this abrupt transition as traumatic, stressful, and filled with fear, uncertainty, loneliness, and missed opportunity ( Diaz et al, 2021 ; Fitzgerald & Konrad, 2021 ; Goddard et al, 2021 ; Kim et al, 2021 ; Michel et al, 2021 ). The presence of depressive symptoms in nursing students was well-documented before the COVID-19 pandemic ( McDermott et al, 2020 ; Tung et al, 2018 ). Kim et al (2021) found a three-fold increase in nursing student depression measures during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels.…”

“…The correlation between stress and depression in nursing students is well documented ( De Gagne et al, 2021 ; Finley, 2020 ; McDermott et al, 2020 ; Park et al, 2019 ). Nursing students tend to be older, married, and are more likely to have family commitments outside the classroom than college students in non-nursing majors.…”

Physical Activity and Resilience among College Students: The Mediating Effects of Basic Psychological Needs

“…It enables people to thrive under challenging or threatening circumstances [10]. College students with high resilience tend to more actively mobilize internal and external resources to tackle the adversity, and they are less likely to have mental health problems, poor academic performance, and interpersonal problems compared to those with low resilience [11,12]. Given the great significance of resilience for college students, how to promote their resilience merits greater attention.…”

Association Between Perceived Resilience and Mental Well-Being of Saudi Nursing Students During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Resilience, like grit, is a significant value crucial to the development of nursing education (Meyer et al, 2020). School administrators and nurse educators alike should create a milieu where resilience is nurtured, thus decreasing the unwanted impact of stress and anxiety among students, leading to their optimal well-being and ideal state of mind and body suitable for learning (McDermott et al, 2020). Accordingly, the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA, 2021) advocates a treatment approach that relies on the outcomes of evidence-based research on holistic treatment methods.…”

“…Fowler et al (2020) also found that resilience can develop among nursing students throughout the years during their nursing schooling. Therefore, it only shows that the academic environment has an obligation to foster resilience and develop this trait among the students (Cam, 2017;Li & Hasson, 2020;Mcdermott et al, 2020;Ramalisa et al, 2018;Rios-Risquez et al, 2016). Since resilience is a trait to be lived with by nursing students, it has to be taught and developed in them (Taylor et al, 2020).…”