Academic burnout in nursing students: An explanatory sequential design.

AIM: Despite the harmful effects of burnout among many nursing students, academic burnout is poorly understood. This study was conducted to better explain the concept of burnout in nursing students. DESIGN: An explanatory sequential mixed-method design was used. METHODS: In the quantitative phase, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey was completed by 91 nursing students in eastern Iran. In the qualitative phase, individual interviews were conducted with 13 undergraduate nursing students, one nurse and one instructor. Data were analysed using the directed content analysis method. RESULTS: Results from an ANOVA test showed differences in burnout scores in different semesters (p = .02) that were confirmed by the qualitative data. In addition to the three dimensions of the Maslach burnout model (exhaustion, cynicism and inadequacy feeling), qualitative data from the present study indicated the presence of a fourth dimension (incompatible learning style).

Development and psychometric properties of the Nursing Student Academic Resilience Inventory (NSARI): A mixed-method study.

INTRODUCTION: Resilience has been proposed as a suitable solution to better deal with nursing students in cases of challenges but the complex and multidimensional nature of resilience has made its measurement challenging. This study aimed to develop and validate a new inventory theory-driven labeled Nursing Student Academic Resilience Inventory. METHODS: This study was performed with an exploratory sequential mixed-method design. In the qualitative phase of the study, individual interviews were conducted by including 15 participants to elicit the concept of resilience through purposive sampling. In the quantitative phase, psychometric analysis of the extracted items was performed using face, content, and construct validities (exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses) on a sample size of 405 nursing students. Besides, reliability has been tested using internal consistency and test-retest methods. According to the COSMIN standards, beside two important indicators of validity and reliability, responsiveness and interpretability were also considered. RESULTS: A 6-factor structure (optimism, communication, self-esteem/evaluation, self-awareness, trustworthiness, and self-regulation) with 24 items were extracted in terms of the derived categories from the qualitative phase. In confirmatory factor analysis, the χ2/df ratio was calculated as 2.11 for the NSARI six-factor structure. Suitable values were obtained for the goodness of fit indices (CFI = 0.904, AGFI = 0.885, IFI = 0.906, PCFI = 0.767, and RMSEA = 0.053). In the second-order factor analysis, AVE = 0.70 indicated the existence of both convergent and divergent validities. The Cronbach's alpha and omega coefficients were investigated as (0.66-0.78) and (0.66-0.80), respectively. The AIC was between 0.33 and 0.45 for all factors, which is an acceptable rate. Additionally, an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was obtained as .903 for the whole instrument (CI .846- .946, P <0.0001). CONCLUSION: Multidimensional nature of resilience was supported through exploring its 6-factor structures in the nursing students' field. This tool also showed an acceptable validity and reliability for measuring resilience in the population of nursing students.

Psychometric properties of The Baruth Protective Factors Inventory among nursing students.

The Baruth Protective Factors Inventory is an instrument which assesses the risk and protective factors behind resilience. However, there is no valid or reliable Persian instrument for measuring resilience amongst nursing students in Iran. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of The Baruth Protective Factors Inventory among nursing students. This methodological study was done in 2017. The participants were 200 nursing students who were randomly recruited from Neyshabur city. Construct validity was assessed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was also assessed through the internal consistency assessment method. Exploratory factor analysis indicated a three-factor structure for the Inventory which accounted for 48.21% of its total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the first-order model. The internal consistency values of the Inventory and its domains were good, confirming its great internal consistency and reliability. The Persian version of the Baruth Protective Factors Inventory was found to have acceptable validity and reliability to assess resilience amongst nursing students. Therefore, the Persian version of The Baruth Protective Factors Inventory can help nursing authorities identify non-resilient students, promote their resilience, and thereby improve their academic and clinical performance. Nursing students' improved performance can positively affect both the quality of care and patient outcomes.

Critical thinking skills in intensive care and medical-surgical nurses and their explaining factors.

Critical thinking affects patient safety in critical situations. Nurses, in particular, intensive care unit (ICU) nurses, need to develop their critical thinking skills. The present article seeks to compare the level of critical thinking in medical-surgical and ICU nurses and investigate the factors explaining it. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 120 medical-surgical and ICU nurses (60 per group). Data were collected using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test and analyzed in SPSS-16 using independent samples t-test, ANOVA, and the regression analysis. The mean critical thinking score was 8.68 ± 2.84 in the ICU nurses and 9.12 ± 2.99 in the medical-surgical nurses. No significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of the critical thinking score and the scores of its domains. The results of the regression analysis showed that demographic variables explain only 8% of the variations in critical thinking score, as only gender explains nurses' critical thinking score. The results revealed poor critical thinking scores in the nurses working in medical-surgical wards. Investigating the reasons for the poor scores obtained and using educational strategies such as PBL, conceptual map, participation in interdisciplinary rounds, the development of clinical guidelines and participation in continuing education conferences are recommended for developing critical thinking skills in nurses.