Stress and Coping of New Graduated Nurses Educated from Saintlouis College

Abstract

This descriptive research aimed to study stress and the working situations where the new graduated nurses felt stressful and how they encounter with stress within the six-month transitional period.  The sample comprised 114 new nurses graduated from the Saint Louis College’s Bachelor of Nursing Sciences Program in the academic year 2008.  The instruments were consisted of (1) the demographic data (2) the stress’s self assessment test which its reliability was 0.97 (3) the evaluation of stressful life events which its reliability was 0.93 (4) the questionnaire assessing how new graduated nurses coped with stress which its reliability was 0.88 and (5) the open ended questionnaire to survey opinions and suggestions of the new graduates regarding the Bachelor of Nursing Sciences Program. The data were analyzed by the descriptive statistics.  The results showed that the new graduates had normal level of stress. The stressful life events were unsatisfied salary, the adaptation on working environment, interpersonal and communication skills, employee’s expectation and performance as well as safety practice in nursing.  The new graduates had confrontive, emotive and palliative coping at moderate level.  They suggested that the Community Health Nursing Practicum and the Professional Nursing Practicum courses were useful for the transitional period.

These research results suggested that the educational management in nursing science should be emphasized on the curriculum development, providing English courses for health care services, adding up more nursing courses, both theoretical and practicum, updating educational facilities for simulations, developing teaching strategies, as well as providing extracurricular activities that enhance counseling, practicing, and managerial skills.