Nursing students’ psychological well-being and coping during the COVID-19 quarantine

ABSTRACT

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has brought about changes in the lives of higher education students that may influence their psychological well-being. Objective: To analyze the association between nursing students’ coping strategies and their psychological well-being during the COVID-19 quarantine. Methodology: Cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational study using a convenience sample of 136 students. Data were collected online using the Portuguese version of the Échelle de Mesure des Mani-festations du Bien-être Psychologique and the Brief COPE. Results: Students in the last years of their undergraduate studies used the instrumental support (p = 0.015) and emotional support (p = 0.009) coping strategies more often and had higher levels of psychological well-being (p = 0.012). Psychological well-being is associated with household income changes (p = 0.024), as well as with religion (r = 0.36;p ≤ 0.01), positive reframing (r = 0.47;p ≤ 0.01), and humor (r = 0.37;p ≤ 0.01) coping strategies. Conclusion: Students’ coping strategies seem to be associated with their psychological well-being during the COVID-19 quarantine. © 2021, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra. All rights reserved.