Application of Survey Research

Here is an example of a survey research study exploring the implications of a self-care assignment to foster undergraduate nursing students' mental health.

Background: Nursing students' mental health can be impacted by stressors associated with several personal, academic and practice-related responsibilities. There are limited resources within nursing programs to support nursing students with managing their mental health and therefore necessary for nursing programs to incorporate strategies and provide resources that will help nursing students cope with the demands they experience.

Aim: A study was done to examine how student nurses would respond to a self-care assignment which was integrated into their core nursing coursework.

Design: A cross-sectional study using an online survey

Setting: An accelerated two-year undergraduate nursing program in Western Canada.

Participants: Undergraduate nursing students in an accelerated first and second year of a two-year program

Methods: A 16 question survey was created with closed and open ended questions. The questions examined the impact of the assignment on students' learning and self-care capacity. Survey questions used Bloom's cognitive, psychomotor and affective learning domains to examine how effective the self-care assignment was on student's learning and self-care capacity.

Results: A total of 89 students participated in the study. The researchers had a 49% response rate. The findings were considered statistically significant p =0.023. They found that participants self-care practices increased before and after the self care assignment.

Some students became more knowledgeable about self care and were able to identify and manage stressors at an enhanced level. Other students felt that certain features of the assignment did not improve their well-being and felt guilty when they did not adhere to the self-care practice.

Conclusion: Researchers concluded that a self-care assignment is an effective strategy for nursing students to enhance their coping with stressors.

(Jenkins et al., 2019)