Abstract
Student nurses experience poor wellbeing which has implications for students as individuals, and for course attrition. Previous interventions aiming to improve student nurse wellbeing have been limited, with a focus on students’ ability to cope with stress and a lack of consideration of intervention design principles, stakeholder input, and theory. Therefore, this thesis aimed to answer the question of ‘what are the necessary components of an intervention to improve the wellbeing of student nurses?’The methodology was informed by intervention design principles and a critical realist philosophy resulting in the use of mixed methods. This involved 1. A systematic review of interventions and behaviour change techniques to reduce stress in student nurses, 2. A case study of a higher education institute that provides student nurse training, including a questionnaire (n = 44) and interviews (n = 4), 3. The identification of the necessary components of an intervention. 4. Example interventions to address these components. 5. A review of the standards for nurse education 6. The development of a checklist as a means to address the components 7. Stakeholder feedback on the checklist (n = 44) 8. Refinement of the checklist. Stakeholders were also consulted during the research process (n = 19) and theory was integrated throughout.
The findings were triangulated to identify that student nurse wellbeing is a complex phenomenon that is influenced by multiple interacting factors, including those that are both individual and organisational. Consequently, the three necessary components of an intervention were: i) to decrease the stressors students experience, ii) to increase the support provided to students and iii) to improve students’ ability to cope with stress. This thesis, therefore, provides a blueprint for intervention design that is founded on a holistic understanding of the phenomenon of student nurse wellbeing and emphasises the need to address both individual and organisational factors.
| Date of Award | 20 Jan 2023 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
|
| Supervisor | Rachel Locke (Supervisor), Margaret Husted (Supervisor) & Amanda Lees (Supervisor) |