Clinical training is an essential element in nursing education, the outcomes of which are directly related to the quality of mentoring support. This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine whether ...the group or individual form of the mentoring approach used and the order of application of the mentoring approach contribute to the quality of mentoring support provided to students. The study comprised two measurement points with 130 nursing students, divided into two groups with different orders of application of the mentoring approach. The validated Mentoring Support Quality Evaluation Questionnaire (MSEQ) was used. Students in both groups rated the quality of mentoring support as higher following an individual mentoring approach. A significant interaction was found between the mentoring approach used and the order in which the mentoring approaches were applied (
= 0.002). The individual mentoring approach contributed significantly to a higher quality of mentoring support after the second round of clinical training (
= 0.021), while after the first round, the difference between the group and individual approaches was not as clear. The results suggest that not only the form of the mentoring approach but also the sequence of changes in the mentoring approach should be planned when implementing clinical training.
Full text
Available for:
NUK, OILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
Objective: To examine how Bachelor of Science nursing students evaluate the quality of mentoring support during clinical training using three different types of mentoring approaches.
Background: The ...mentoring approach and the mentor-student relationship are important factors that determine nursing students' satisfaction with their clinical experience. However, there are significant differences in the approaches to mentoring in nursing, and there is no global consensus around a universal form of mentorship.
Study design and methods: The participants were first-year Bachelor of Science students (n = 86) divided into three groups exposed to three different mentoring approaches: Group 1 = dual (two mentors/ group of students); Group 2 = individual (one mentor/ one student); Group 3 = group (one mentor/group of students). The validated Mentor Support Evaluation Questionnaire (MSEQ) was used to assess the quality of mentoring support.
Results: Students from Group 2 reported a significantly higher level of mentoring support quality (P < 0.01; M = 4.8; SD = 0.32) in comparison to students from Group 1 (M = 4.1; SD = 0.66) and students from Group 3 (M = 3.32; SD = 1.71).
Discussion: Nursing students exposed to different mentoring approaches vary in their reported quality of mentoring support. The highest quality of mentoring support was reported by students in the individual approach, and the lowest quality of mentoring support was reported by students mentored in a group of four to six students by a single mentor. In the individual approach, the students highlighted the continuous availability of the mentor, recognition of personal study needs, respect, safety, appreciation, and patience.
Conclusion: The approach to mentoring is an important factor that affects students' satisfaction with their clinical experience, and in return it influences achievement of final learning outcomes and professional development of students.
Implications for research, policy, and practice: The results of this study emphasize the importance individualizing the mentorship process in order to increase students' satisfaction and lead to more successful acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These results also indicate the need to continuously monitor student evaluations of the quality of mentoring support and their overall satisfaction with the mentoring approach during clinical training. A future qualitative, longitudinal, mixed-methods study is recommended in order to investigate and describe the specific and (in)direct causes of student (dis)satisfaction in the mentor- student relationship.
What is already known about the topic? There are different types of mentor approaches in nursing education. Comparisons of students' perceptions of mentor-student relationships in different mentoring approaches, such as individual, dual, or group mentoring, represent an under-researched area.
What this paper adds: Findings from this study provide evidence to better understanding the specific advantages and disadvantages of mentor- student relationships in individual, dual, and group approaches from the students' point of view.
Full text
Available for:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
Background: Social environment and type of care may influence mental health in late life. The aim of this study was to assess the associations between depression, anxiety, and self-esteem in older ...people. Methods: The study evaluated mental health in people older than 65 years of age in Zadar County, Croatia. The participants were interviewed using the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Multiple linear regressions were used to assess the correlations between depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. Results: Compared with elderly people living in their own homes, elderly people in nursing homes reported lower self-esteem, higher depression, and higher anxiety. The level of self-esteem decreased with increased levels of depression. Anxiety was significantly associated with depression, while depression strongly increased with an increase in anxiety. Older age was associated with depression, while widowhood was a negative predictor of self-esteem. Institutionalization was borderline significantly associated with anxiety, while gender was associated with anxiety. Conclusions: The study found associations between self-esteem, anxiety, and depression in the elderly. The strategy of humanization in nursing care for older people should be applied equally in nursing homes and in community-dwelling states. Public health programs aimed at maintaining the mental health of older people are needed.
Moving nurses to a COVID-19 department may cause the phenomenon of transition shock, which occurs when already employed nurses change jobs. A set of confusing and uncertain feelings arise due to the ...unfamiliar work environment, which may lead to their intention to leave the nursing profession. The aim of this study was to examine transition shock and the contribution of both the respondents' characteristics and the presence of stressors to the occurrence of transition shock in nurses assigned to work in COVID-19 departments.
: A cross-sectional study with 120 nurses employed in COVID-19 departments was conducted. Several linear regression models were used to assess the association between transition shock, personal and professional COVID-19 stressors, and the intention to leave the nursing profession.
: Nurses who intended to leave the profession showed higher transition shock and higher personal and professional stressors (
< 0.001). Female nurses had lower transition shock (β = -0.16;
= 0.036) and higher personal COVID-19 stressors (β = 0.27;
< 0.001). University education contributes to the lowering of nurses' transition shock (β = -0.16;
= 0.038). Nurses who did not intend to leave the nursing profession had lower personal COVID-19 stressors (β = -0.15;
= 0.044). Transition shock was associated with personal COVID-19 stressors (β = 0.39;
< 0.001) and professional COVID-19 stressors (β = 0.29;
< 0.001), and vice versa.
: The phenomenon of transition shock was present after nurses transitioned to working in COVID-19 departments. Transition shock may cause more nurses to leave the profession, which may have a strong impact on the health system in many countries that are already facing a shortage of nurses. Additional education on and preparation for adapting to new working conditions with psychological support could have an influence by lowering the level of nurses' transition shock.
Introduction: Mental health is defined as the well-being in which an individual realizes his/her potential, is able to cope with normal life stress, and can be productive for the community. Compared ...to the general population, students under 25 years are more susceptible to various mental difficulties and disorders. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the differences in the mental health of nursing students with regard to previous education and association between mental health, satisfaction with studying, age and year of study. Methods: The study was conducted on a sample of 76 students, by using the MHS-38 Mental Health Inventory, which examines anxiety, depression, loss of control, well-being, emotional ties, general positive affect, life satisfaction, and the mental health index. To test the differences between the results on mental health scales and students' satisfaction with respect to prior education, the Mann-Whitney U test was used. Association between variables was analyzed using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Linear regression was used to identify predictors of student’s mental health. Results: The nursing students with prior vocational education had lower well-being, emotional ties, general positive affect and higher levels of depression, and showed lower life satisfaction scores than students with prior general education. In spite of that, students with prior vocational education showed higher scores in the Mental Health Inventory which indicates better mental health. The study’s satisfaction has a significant contribution to mental health, with no contribution of previous education. Conclusion: There is a difference in the mental health status of nursing students with regard to previous education. The mental health of nursing students is connected with age and satisfaction with studying. Further research is needed to establish a real relationship between mental health and students' satisfaction in the sense of causative consequence, and real differences in respect to the students' prior education.
Introduction: The identification of nursing students with their profession, as well as gained professional competencies, are the crucial factors of the quality of their future work activities and the ...level of safety of the patient they are taking care of. Therefore, it is of utter importance to estimate the nursing students’ professional identity during their education. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to translate Professional Identity Five-Factor Scale and Identity questionnaire, to test their psychometric properties in Croatian practice and to identify more suitable instrument of measuring the level of nursing students' professional identity in Croatian context. Methods: Quantitative, cross-sectional two-phase study was performed. In the first phase translated questionnaires were administered to a sample of 432 nursing students. Based on the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which revealed poor model fit, the principal component analysis was conducted. In the second phase, CFA was used to test the Croatian version of the instruments' factor structure on a sample of 222 students with different study orientations. Results: The CFA results, conducted in first phase, do not support the original version of the factor structures of the Professional Identity Five-Factor Scale and Identity models. The exploratory approach showed that the translated Professional Identity Five-Factor Scale had three factors with good psychometric properties explaining 49.35% of the variance. Translated Identity questionnaire had a two-factor structure (63.46% explained variance) with good reliability properties. In the second phase, on another heterogeneous sample of students, the described factor structure was found to have a good model fit obtained by CFA. Conclusions: According to the findings, Professional Identity Five-Factor is more appropriate for evaluating professional identity of nursing students, and Identity is probably better suited to measure professional identity among working professionals.
Nursing care involves a continuous interaction between nurses and people with disabilities. This has created a need for assessment tools that measure nurses' knowledge about the basic human needs of ...people with disabilities. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to develop a Knowledge of Basic Human Needs Scale and investigate nurses' levels of knowledge about the basic human needs of people with disabilities and their association with nurses' education. Data were analyzed using principal component analysis to test the construct validity and to identify factors using principal varimax rotation. The reliability estimate was based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Linear regression models were used to assess the association between knowledge about basic human needs and predictors. Factor analysis extracted eight factors, explaining 66.3% of the total variance. The sampling adequacy, criterion validity, and internal consistency were satisfactory. The nurses' levels of education was associated with their knowledge about the basic human needs of people with disabilities. The questionnaire constitutes a valuable contribution to improving nurses' knowledge and practice, as well as the quality of healthcare, and it provides a contribution to improving the quality of life for people with disabilities.
Full text
Available for:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Fertility is a crucial component of population maintenance and growth. A declining fertility trend has been observed over the past two decades, and it continues. The birth rate in the Republic of ...Croatia is continuously decreasing, which is insufficient to maintain its population.
This research aimed to examine the level of fertility knowledge, factors influencing fertility knowledge, and the relationship between fertility knowledge and the decision to have a child.
A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of mothers in five hospitals on the Adriatic coast of the Republic of Croatia, involving 1541 mothers, 18 years and older, from September 2021 to December 2023. The Cardiff Fertility Knowledge Scale (CFKS) was used for the research. The participants were divided into four groups according to age. The analysis was conducted using SPSS software (version 22.0). Descriptive statistics, chi-squared tests,
-tests, and Pearson's correlations were used for the data analysis.
The average percent correct score on the CFKS was 51.8% (SD 22.6), with greater knowledge being significantly related to married status and higher education status (both
< 0.05). A total of 83% of mothers who have one child want to have more children. Fewer mothers who have two children want to have more children (42%), while only 11% of mothers who have three or more children want to have more children. There is no significant relationship between the CFKS and the importance of childbearing in the future (
= 0.12). Respondents indicated that they gained most of their knowledge from the internet (31%) and from the healthcare system (33%).
The research results reveal a lack of fertility knowledge among participants, as well as an intention to have a child in the later stages of life. The lack of formal education on this topic leads to information gathering from friends, newspapers, television, and the internet. This study was not registered.
Full text
Available for:
NUK, OILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
The aim of this study was to identify demographic and disease characteristics associated with different medication beliefs of patients with chronic non-malignant pain and to investigate beliefs about ...medicines and their association with medicine adherence. Data were collected from 202 patients using the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) and the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). According to four different attitudinal constructs, the results indicate that the majority of patients were Indifferent, followed by Distrustful and Mixed-feelings, whereas the lowest proportion of patients were In-favour. The highest patient age was found in the In-favour and Indifferent constructs. Primary education level was the most represented in the In-favour construct. The most patients in the In-favour, Indifferent and Distrustful constructs used a combination of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and opioids. In the Mixed-feelings construct, patients mostly used a combination of paracetamol and NSAIDs. Most patients in the In-favour and Mixed-feelings construct reported severe pain. In the Indifferent and Distrustful constructs, most patients reported moderate pain. The study results indicate am association between some demographic characteristics and medications beliefs and that constructs could be predictors of adherence. The BMQ can be used to identify patients who are at risk of non-adherence and can be used in multidisciplinary pain programs.
Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine, identify and describe the factors that influence the turnover intention of nurses in Croatia.
Methods: A qualitative descriptive phenomenological study ...was conducted in June 2018. The participants were 20 registered nurses working full time who were employed in different cities in the Republic of Croatia, working in different healthcare institutions and in different medical fields. The data were obtained from interviews and were analysed and interpreted using the content analysis method.
Results: During data analysis, four main ideas emerged as follows: job satisfaction, work motivation, psychological factors (individual) and structural factors – work environment. Job satisfaction has been identified as a key factor with direct impact in nurses' turnover intention. Work motivation, psychological factors (individual) and structural factors – work environment does not have a direct influence on the nurses' intention to leave their job, but they have a significant indirect impact through job satisfaction.
Conclusion: Recognizing nursing challenges in the healthcare system and the factors which influence the intention of nurses to leave their workplace can help with the development of a clear strategy and retention measures based on the factors that influence the nurses’ turnover intention.
(Smokrović E, Gusar I, Hnatešen D, Bačkov K, Bajan A, Grozdanović Z, Placento H, Žvanut B. Influence of Work Motivation, Work Environment and Job Satisfaction on Turnover Intention of Croatian Nurses: A Qualitative Study. SEEMEDJ 2019; 3(2); 33-44)
PDF
