Resilience in Nursing Students: The Effect of Academic Stress and Social Support

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the levels of psychological resilience, academic stress and social support available to nursing students and the relationship between these factors. Methods: The population of the study, which had a descriptive and correlational research design, was made up of 1202 students, while the sample consisted of 322 students selected using the sample size formula for a known population. Data were collected using a Structured Questionnaire, the Psychological Resilience Scale for Adults, the Nursing Education Stress Scale and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Results: 76.7% of students were female and 23.3% were male. A statistically significant correlation was found between scores for psychological resilience and perceived social support (p<0.05). It was found that the individual characteristics of students affected their psychological resilience. Levels of psychological resilience, academic stress, and social support among nursing students are at a moderate level. Conclusion: The significance of resilience is clear, a better understanding is needed of what factors affect a student’s level of resilience and how this resilience can best be improved.