The duration of college years is regarded as an important period of time for young adults who are expected to assume greater responsibilities in learning new concepts, acquiring critical thinking skills, and maintaining a positive attitude toward challenges in life. Young people between ages 18 and 25 have gone through the transition from adolescence to adulthood. This transition process is referred to as the “emerging adulthood” characterized by individual’s exploration and construction of self-identity. Research has shown that many emerging adults consider themselves neither adolescents nor full-fledged adults when it comes to self-identity.
Compared to college students majoring in other fields, undergraduate nursing students may experience more challenges and difficulties due to the academic rigor of nursing curriculum. Consequently, these students tend to have a relatively higher level of stress and anxiety in either school classrooms or clinical settings during their entire college years. Since nursing students are expected to simultaneously play two roles, grown-up young adults and efficient health care providers, it is inevitable that they have a higher possibility to be confronted with personal weaknesses and issues related to learning problems. Indeed, a number of studies have indicated that nursing students demonstrate a relatively lower level of self-esteem or self-confidence caused by factors associated with personal, professional, and environmental conditions.
Self-transcendence has been acknowledged as an important attribute of human development, in which a person will have an enhanced awareness of the environment and an orientation toward broadened perspectives about life. Self-transcendence can help a person to expand his or her personal boundaries in both psychosocial and spiritual ways. It is considered that the process of self-transcendence is triggered by a vulnerable life experience which heighten one's sense of mortality or inadequacy and may promote well-being by transforming losses and difficulties into growth experiences. In addition, it is theorized that there are personal and contextual factors which moderate or influence the process of self-transcendence. Reed`s self-transcendence theory has been tested in many different populations, such as adolescents, the elderly, terminal ill patients, and patients with chronic illnesses, and demonstrates its effectiveness and applicability. Therefore, we speculate that this theory may be also applicable to Japanese nursing students. Specifically, it is hypothesized that undergraduate nursing students many demonstrate a higher level of self-transcendence and well-being as they go through a nursing education program.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to assess the level of self-transcendence (in both psychosocial and spiritual aspects) of undergraduate nursing students including freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Factors that affect their process of self-transcendence and well being were also examined. Furthermore, the theoretical model of self-transcendence and well-being would be tested respectively using this group of nursing students as a unique sample.
Methods:
Research Design:
A cross-sectional non-experimental descriptive study was used in this study.
Subjects:
A convenience sample method was utilized in this study. A total of 283 undergraduate nursing students were recruited from a private nursing university located in southern Japan. The participants were all females consisting of 84 freshmen (29.7%), 79 sophomores (27.9%), 25 juniors (8.8%), and 95 seniors (33.6%).
Instruments:
Subjects’ level of self-transcendence was assessed by using the Japanese Self-Transcendence Scale (JSTS) aimed at measuring the psychosocial self-transcendence and Japanese Spiritual Perspective Scale (JSPS), whereas their level of well-being was measured using the Japanese translated version of Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Identity Status Scale. Demographic data including health status, social support, household status, religious beliefs, and engagements in school clubs or part-time jobs, all of which are identified as contributing factors for self-transcendence, were also collected. In addition, subjects’ emotional intelligence, an important factor of personal traits, was assessed by using the Japanese version of the Wong and Low Emotional Intelligence Scale (JWEIS). Moreover, open-ended questions were used to elicit further information associated with subjects’ personal development and process of self-transcendence.
Analysis:
Descriptive statistics were first used to summarize sample characteristics and calculate means and standard deviations of all the measures used in this study. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were then conducted to examine the differences among students on the measures assessing the level of self-transcendence and well-being. Pearson correlations and regression analyses were also used to examine correlative and predictive relationships among variables. Furthermore, structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the model fit.
Procedures:
An approval of IRB was obtained prior to conducting this study.
Results:
Analyses of the data in this study are currently in progress and will be completed in spring 2019.
Implications:
It is expected that findings of this study will identify factors facilitating the process of self-transcendence of the undergraduate nursing students in Japan and confirm the theoretical model regarding the promotion of students’ well-being. We hope that this study would be a successful beginning for building a better and effective support system for Japanese nursing students, helping them become confident and mature adults.
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