Paper
Sunday, November 4, 2007
166
Perceived Stress of Nursing Students Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
Ardith Sudduth, PhD, APRN-BC, Department of Nursing and Allied Health Professions, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, USA and Sudha C. Patel, RN, MN, MA, DNS, Nursing, University of Louisiana, at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, USA.
| Learning Objective #1: identify the multiple stressors described by nursing students after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita stuck within miles of the university. |
| Learning Objective #2: recognize the impact of natural disasters on students personal and academic life across the four year curriculum. |
Perceived Stress of Nursing Students Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
Introduction:
Immediately following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita students seemed to be experiencing stress which created an imbalance in the physiological and psychological equilibrium in nursing students. The purpose of the study was to explore the stressors experienced by students and to gain insight into the learning needs as well as the teaching/learning strategies that assisted the students’ academic achievement.
Design/Method
A qualitative design was used. Nursing students were asked to complete a questionnaire and respond to an open ended question about their lived experiences and feelings about Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Fall of 2005.
Sample:
A convenience sample of 450 nursing students volunteered to participate in the study. Sixty-two students answered the open ended question.
Findings:
The qualitative data was organized into eight categories: Academic, Behavior, Coping, and Damage to property, Empathetic responses, Family impact, Guilt, Physical problems. From these categories, two major themes emerged such as powerlessness and decreased academic performance. The students who shared with the researchers their feelings wrote with genuine openness, candor, and sometimes pathos. An example from one student was as follows: “I often felt powerless. I had no control. It took a toll on my school performance and my self esteem.”
Conclusions:
Students who have experienced the impact of two major hurricanes were eager to share their stories of their lived experiences. This study revealed that students were very resilient and kept on going and meeting the demand of the academic curriculum despite their personal losses and grief. Several students at the end of their stories thanked the researchers for the opportunity to express their feelings and tell us how they were coping. Students identified adjustments to teaching and learning strategies that faculty quickly adapted that helped them meet their learning needs.