Emotional empowerment through information research and communication to reduce fear of COVID-19 among nursing students: a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Despite an existing body of literature on anxiety reduction using multi-component methods, little is known about the effect of active student participation in research and communication of scientific information on anxiety and fear reduction. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of quality scientific information research and the production of informative videos on the preventive aspects of COVID-19 on fear and anxiety reduction. METHODS: A randomised controlled trial was conducted with 220 undergraduate nursing students in the first year of the nursing degree. The participating students were randomised into two groups. The experimental group carried out an intervention based on a database search for information on preventing COVID-19 and production of a video giving scientific reasons why prevention measures should be followed. In the control group, students created posters and videos about theoretical aspects of one module of the nursing degree. Both groups were surveyed before and after the intervention, measuring their state of resilience, preventive behaviours, level of anxiety, and fear of COVID-19. RESULTS: The intervention group showed a greater decrease in fear levels after the intervention than those in the control group. There were no differences between the groups in terms of resilience, preventive behaviours, or anxiety. In the experimental group, there was a significant decrease in anxiety levels and fear levels after the intervention compared to the baseline levels. CONCLUSIONS: An intervention based on active participation in searches for high-quality scientific information and production of information videos on COVID-19 prevention reduced fear and anxiety caused by COVID-19 among nursing students. TRIAL REGISTRATION: We have retrospectively registered the trial in Open Science Framework and the identification number is https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/6QU5S .

An Exploration of Resilience and Positive Affect among Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Longitudinal Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to analyze the variation in resilience and emotional state scores in nursing students throughout the four years of training for the nursing degree. METHODS: This is a longitudinal observational study of a paired and prospective cohort of 176 nursing students who enrolled in the first year of a bachelor's degree in 2019. The study followed up with the students in 2022 and examined several sociodemographic factors, including sex, marital status, date of birth, living arrangements and occupation. Additionally, the study investigated changes in negative affect, positive affect, and resilience. RESULTS: A total of 176 students participated in the study. The study found that resilience increased from 68.24 ± 10.59 to 70.87 ± 9.06 (p < 0.001), positive affect increased from 28.16 ± 4.59 to 33.08 ± 8.00 (p < 0.001), and the negative affect score decreased from 25.27 ± 5.12 to 21.81 ± 7.85 (p < 0.001). The study also found that married individuals experienced an increase in negative affect (p = 0.03) compared to singles or those in open relationships. Furthermore, the change in resilience was greater in men than in women (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Throughout their four-year training, nursing students experience an increase in resilience and positive affect, as well as a decrease in negative affect.

A scale for assessing nursing students' emotional competence: A validation study.

BACKGROUND: The wellbeing of nursing professionals can be affected by emotionally challenging situations. Emotional intelligence (EI) is a recognised ability to manage stress, reduce work overload, and improve clinical relationships and decision making. Therefore, these emotional skills should be identified and developed throughout nursing education. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to create an observer-based emotional measurement tool to assess the level of emotional skills in university students. DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study. SETTING: Complutense University in Madrid, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 415 first- and fourth-year nursing students participated. METHODS: The Situational Emotional Response Scale (ERES) is a questionnaire for observing emotional competence in nursing practice. It underwent content validation using the Delphi method with 6 experts, resulting in a final version of 34 items. Focus group sessions were conducted with nursing students to ensure readability and appropriateness. Participants completed the ERES after viewing two clinical interaction videos, resulting in two sets of responses. Half of the responses were used for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and half for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). RESULTS: A total of 415 nursing students participated in the study. Four factors were extracted, explaining 55.1 % of the variance. The CFA was conducted with 208 students, yielding a total of 4 factors and a variance of 55.1 %. The internal consistency of the scale was high, with Cronbach's α and McDonald's ω coefficients of 0.947 and 0.949, respectively. Test-retest reliability showed a moderate intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.604 (95 % CI: 0.503-0.688) over a 15-day interval. CONCLUSIONS: The ERES questionnaire is well grounded in the theoretical framework of emotional competence as manifested in clinical practice. The empirical evidence provided by this study suggests that the ERES is a reliable, valid, useful, and innovative instrument for measuring emotional competence in university students.

Virtual Active Learning to Maximize Knowledge Acquisition in Nursing Students: A Comparative Study.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students need to acquire knowledge through active methods that promote critical thinking and decision making. The purpose of this study is to analyze whether there are differences in the acquisition of knowledge by nursing students between active face-to-face or virtual teaching methods. METHODS: In this comparative study, nursing students enrolled in the psychology course were divided into two groups: a face-to-face group that received active teaching methods and a virtual group. The virtual group was exposed to the Effective Learning Strategy (ELS), which included seminars based on video content through the Virtual Campus and answering questions using the H5P tool. In addition, participants engaged in reflection tasks on the content. Covariate data were collected, and knowledge tests were administered to both groups before and after the course. After three months, subjects were re-evaluated with a final exam to assess content retention. RESULTS: A total of 280 students were randomized. No differences were found in students' scores at the end of the knowledge test or in their final grades in the subject. Having study habits (b = 0.12, p = 0.03) and social support from relevant people (b = 0.09; p = 0.03) were associated with better post-intervention scores, and inversely with social support from friends (b = -0.12, p < 0.01). Final grades were inversely associated with digital safety literacy (b = -0.101, p = 0.01). No factors were associated with the scores of each group separately. CONCLUSIONS: The ELS virtual active learning model is as effective as face-to-face active learning methods for teaching psychology to first-year nursing students. This study was not registered.