Abstract
Abstract
Introduction: Nursing students are held to extremely rigorous academic standards, which often result in severe and chronic stress. This phenomenon creates an array of negative consequences, including mental and physical health issues, reduced academic success, and, in extreme cases, attrition from nursing school or subsequent exit from the nursing profession.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify peak stress levels in a four-semester prelicensure nursing program over a 10 week study period to provide a template for implementation of focused mitigation strategies by nurse educators.
Methods: A longitudinal study design in which the Perceived Stress Scores 10-item survey was collected from each of four participant groups at weeks two, six, and 10 of the semester. Scores were tabulated, averaged, and two single ANOVAs were deployed to determine significant differences by group or time, and one two-way ANOVA was performed to identify a statistically significant group and time interaction.
Results: Descriptive statistics showed an average PSS-10 score of 17.61 for all groups and all weeks. No statistical difference was found between groups or weeks, with significance values of p = 0.662 and p = 0.06, respectively. Group and time interaction was also found to have no statistical significance (p = 0.298).
Conclusions: Based on the study findings, there were no statistically significant peak stress levels found. This guides nurse educators to implement broad support strategies across the curriculum to maintain current moderate stress levels and prevent escalation to severe levels.
Keywords: Perceived Stress Levels, prelicensure nursing students, stress, nursing education, PSS-10
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Christine Hober
Department/Program
Nursing
Submission Type
online only poster
Date
4-8-2026
Rights
Copyright the Author(s)
Recommended Citation
Myers, Sara K.
(2026)
"Perceived Stress Levels of Prelicensure Nursing Students Over a 10 Week Period,"
SACAD: Scholarly Activities: Vol. 2026, Article 38.
Available at:
https://scholars.fhsu.edu/sacad/vol2026/iss2026/38
