Mental health status of nursing students at different studying stages / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Poor mental health status of nursing students can affect their learning and living. OBJECTIVE: To explore mental health status of nursing students at different studying stages.DESIGN: Grouping stratified sampling survey on the basis of nursing students studying in higherschool.SETTING: Nursing Department of the Fourth Military Medical University of Chinese PLA, Laboratory Center of Basic Faulty, and Department of Rehabilitative Physioltherapy of Xijing Hospital.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 515 nursing students at different studying stages of three educational levels (the technical secondary school level, junior college level and undergraduate level) were observed with grouping stratified sampling in December 2004.METHODS: Symptom checklist-90(SCL-90) was used for survey. SCL-90 contained 90 items, being interpreted in the context of nine symptom dimensions, including somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. Each item was scored from grade Ⅰ to grade Ⅴ (symptomless, mild, moderate, little severe, and severe). Scores of total items and 9 symptoms were recorded. The more the scores of total items were, the lower the total level of mental health was; the more the scores of any symptom was, the severer the symptom of mental health was. Data were analyzed with t test. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Scores of total items and 9 symptoms. RESULTS: Totally 515 nursing students were randomly selected in this survey except 5 students because of uncompleted survey, and the response rate was 99.0%. There were 501 qualified questionnaires, which were accounted for 98.2%. Mental health status of nursing students at various stages was different the score of nursing students in grade 1 and 3 was higher than that in grade 2 in technical secondary school; the score of nursing students was the highest in grade 2 in junior college; and the score of nursing students was the highest in grade 3 at undergraduate level. The order of SCL-90 scores was obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity and depression from high to low.CONCLUSION: SCL-90 scores of nursing students are high in grade 1and grade 3 at the technical secondary school level and also in middle grade at junior college level and undergraduate level. The main mental psychological symptoms are obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity and depression. Psychological predisposition of nursing students should be cultured according to different psychological characteristics at various learning stages.