Kaur Manpreet, Maheshwari S.K
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Physical and mental health of nursing students is directly related to the health and future of society. It has been well documented that nursing students across the world experience stress and anxiety throughout their education and training.
Methods: In a exploratory, cross sectional survey, 100 conveniently selected postgraduate nursing students from four nursing colleges of Punjab, were assessed by using the socio demographic data sheet and standardized depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS). The descriptive statistics, unpaired t test, ANOVA test and Karl Pearsons correlation was used for analysis.
Results: Results showed that about 17% students had mild depression, 14% had moderate depression, 18% had severe depression and 6% had extremely severe depression, whereas 34% students had mild anxiety, 18% had moderate anxiety, 22% had severe anxiety and 15% had extremely severe anxiety. About 15% students had mild stress, 26% had moderate stress, 6% had severe stress and 3% had extremely severe stress. Strong significant positive correlation was found between depression, anxiety and stress.
Conclusion: Overall, study suggests that postgraduate nursing students experienced high levels of depression, anxiety and stress which probably may affect their physical and psychological wellbeing. Nursing faculty should understand the possible causes of high level of depression, anxiety and stress and try to overcome for better health of their students and quality of clinical practice.
Key Words: Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Nursing, Students.