PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the status of caffeine-containing energy drink consumption among Korean nursing students and to identify associated psychological factors. METHODS: In total, 187 Korean nursing students participated in this cross-sectional study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to identify participants' general characteristics and psychosocial factors (self-esteem, academic stress, depression, and college adjustment) associated with energy drink consumption. Data were analyzed with SPSS using descriptive statistics, the χ² test, the t-test, and logistic regression. RESULTS: More than two-thirds (73.3%) of the participants had consumed energy drinks. Among the investigated psychological factors, depression appeared to most strongly influence energy drink consumption behaviors in this population. CONCLUSION: The consumption of caffeine-containing energy drinks was found to be common among nursing students preparing to become health care professionals; depressed nursing students were more likely to have consumed energy drinks than non-depressed students. Nursing educators should emphasize the early detection of unhealthy beverage consumption habits and provide appropriate education to enhance healthy behaviors in future health care professionals.
Beverages ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Delivery of Health Care ; Depression ; Education ; Energy Drinks* ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Nursing* ; Psychology* ; Students, Nursing*

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the effects of a communication empowerment program based on situated learning theory for nursing students. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The study participants were 61 nursing students (31 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group) from G city. Data were collected from November 3, 2015 to December 10, 2015. The experimental group received eight sessions of the program, which were scheduled twice a week, with each session lasting two hours. The data were analyzed using chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and an independent t-test using SPSS/WIN 20.0. RESULTS: There were significant increases in self-efficacy for communication (t=2.62, p=.011), emotional intelligence (t=2.66, p=.010), and interpersonal communication competence (t=2.87, p=.006) in the experimental group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings, our study suggests a need to include content from communication curricula or clinical communication training programs for improving undergraduate nursing students' communication skills in practice settings.
Curriculum ; Education ; Emotional Intelligence ; Humans ; Learning* ; Mental Competency ; Nursing* ; Power (Psychology)* ; Students, Nursing*

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to explain the experiences of Iranian nursing students regarding their clinical learning environment (CLE). METHODS: Twenty-one nursing students participated in this qualitative study. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and analyzed using conventional content analysis. RESULTS: Analysis of interviews identified six categories: educational confusion, absence of evaluation procedures, limited educational opportunities, inappropriate interactions with nursing staff, bullying culture, and discrimination. Systematic and consistent methods were not used in clinical education and evaluation of nursing students. In addition, there were inadequate interactions between nursing students and health-care staff, and most students experienced discrimination and bullying in clinical settings. CONCLUSION: Findings showed that the CLE of Iranian nursing students may be inadequate for high-level learning and safe and effective teaching. Addressing these challenges will require academic and practice partnerships to examine the systems affecting the CLE, and areas to be addressed are described in the six themes identified.
Bullying ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Education ; Education, Nursing ; Humans ; Iran ; Learning* ; Nursing Staff ; Nursing* ; Qualitative Research ; Students, Nursing*

PURPOSE: This study was done to describe the countertransference experience of nursing students in psychiatric nursing practice. METHODS: Data were analyzed using Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 participants who were women nursing students. RESULTS: The core category was “narrowing mind distance with patients by exploring countertransference”. The countertransference experience process consisted of four sequential phases: exploring a countertransference, managing a countertransference, increasing understanding of patients, and establishing a trusting relationship. CONCLUSION: The results from the study contribute to promoting understanding of the countertransference experience of nursing students' during nursing practise and should be helpful in therapeutic communication competence education.
Countertransference (Psychology)* ; Education ; Female ; Grounded Theory ; Humans ; Mental Competency ; Nursing* ; Psychiatric Nursing* ; Students, Nursing*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to improve the quality of items on the Korean Nursing Licensing Examination by developing and evaluating case-based items that reflect integrated nursing knowledge. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study to develop new case-based items. The methods for developing test items included expert workshops, brainstorming, and verification of content validity. After a mock examination of undergraduate nursing students using the newly developed case-based items, we evaluated the appropriateness of the items through classical test theory and item response theory. RESULTS: A total of 50 case-based items were developed for the mock examination, and content validity was evaluated. The question items integrated 34 discrete elements of integrated nursing knowledge. The mock examination was taken by 741 baccalaureate students in their fourth year of study at 13 universities. Their average score on the mock examination was 57.4, and the examination showed a reliability of 0.40. According to classical test theory, the average level of item difficulty of the items was 57.4% (80%–100% for 12 items; 60%–80% for 13 items; and less than 60% for 25 items). The mean discrimination index was 0.19, and was above 0.30 for 11 items and 0.20 to 0.29 for 15 items. According to item response theory, the item discrimination parameter (in the logistic model) was none for 10 items (0.00), very low for 20 items (0.01 to 0.34), low for 12 items (0.35 to 0.64), moderate for 6 items (0.65 to 1.34), high for 1 item (1.35 to 1.69), and very high for 1 item (above 1.70). The item difficulty was very easy for 24 items (below −2.0), easy for 8 items (−2.0 to −0.5), medium for 6 items (−0.5 to 0.5), hard for 3 items (0.5 to 2.0), and very hard for 9 items (2.0 or above). The goodness-of-fit test in terms of the 2-parameter item response model between the range of 2.0 to 0.5 revealed that 12 items had an ideal correct answer rate. CONCLUSION: We surmised that the low reliability of the mock examination was influenced by the timing of the test for the examinees and the inappropriate difficulty of the items. Our study suggested a methodology for the development of future case-based items for the Korean Nursing Licensing Examination.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Education ; Humans ; Licensure* ; Nursing* ; Observational Study ; Students, Nursing

PURPOSE: This study aimed to test a proposed structural equation model in which bullying experience, conflict management styles and psychological empowerment predict psychological well-being among Chinese nursing students in clinical placement. METHODS: Three hundred and sixty-six nursing students recruited from five hospitals in J city and Y city were assessed with self-report questionnaires on bullying experience, conflict management styles, psychological empowerment and psychological well-being including depression, self-esteem, and academic major satisfaction. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 and AMOS version 22.0. RESULTS: The evaluation parameters included the comparative fit index at .90, the goodness of fit index at .93, the root mean square error of approximation at .07, and χ²/df ratio at 2.66, indicating that the proposed structural equation model provided a good fit to the data. Experience of being bullied during clinical placement, conflict management styles and psychological empowerment explained 93.0% of the variance and had significant effects on psychological well-being, with conflict management styles and psychological empowerment mediating the association between bullying and psychological well-being. CONCLUSION: The findings indicated that mediation by conflict management styles and psychological empowerment alleviated the negative influence of bullying on psychological well-being. To limit bullying and its negative effects, development of effective guidelines to deal with bullying will be a critical tool for both Chinese nursing students and their instructors. Further research should incorporate conflict management styles and psychological empowerment into the specific intervention strategies for handling bullying behaviors among nursing students and staff nurses and promoting nursing students' psychological well-being.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bullying* ; Depression ; Humans ; Negotiating ; Nursing* ; Personal Satisfaction ; Power (Psychology)* ; Self Concept ; Students, Nursing*

PURPOSE: This study identifies challenges to the first nurse training program for undergraduate nursing students at a nursing and midwifery school in Iran using a collaborative approach in order to improve the program. METHODS: Action research was used as a research strategy with qualitative content analysis and quantitative evaluation. The participants were 148 individuals from nursing academic and clinical settings, including administrators, faculty members, students, and staff nurses. We obtained approval from the research deputy and ethics committee of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran for this study. RESULTS: Lack of coherence in the educational program and implementation of the program, inadequate communication between management inside and outside the organization, insufficient understanding of situations by students, and improper control of inhibitors and use of facilitators in teaching and in practice were among the major challenges in the first training process in the context of this study. After classification of problems, the educational decision-making authorities of the school developed an operational program with stakeholder cooperation to plan initial reforms, implementation of reforms, reflection about the actions, and evaluation. Comparison of student satisfaction with the collaborative learning process versus the traditional method showed that except for the atmosphere in the clinical learning environment (p > .05), the mean differences for all dimensions were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm the overall success of the revised partnership program, but stressed the need for further modification of some details for its implementation in future rounds.
Attitude of Health Personnel ; Education, Nursing/*organization & administration ; Educational Measurement/methods ; Health Services Research/organization & administration ; Humans ; Iran ; Midwifery/*education ; Nurse's Role ; Nursing Education Research/organization & administration ; Personal Satisfaction ; Reproducibility of Results ; Students, Nursing/psychology ; Teaching ; Trust

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine effects of a positive psychology program for improving positive thinking, ego resilience and stress coping of in nursing students. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The subjects for the study were 78 students in G city(experimental group=41, control group=37). The positive psychology program was provided for 4 weeks (8 sessions, 16 hours). Positive thinking, ego resilience, and stress coping were measured with using self-report structured questionnaires. This study collected data between November 23, 2014 and January 9, 2015, and which were analyzed using SPSSWIN 20.0. RESULTS: The positive psychology program was effective in increasing positive thinking, ego resilience and stress coping. CONCLUSION: The results of this study should contribute as baseline data for positive intervention strategies and planning ability of potentials and strengths in nursing students.
Ego* ; Humans ; Nursing* ; Psychology* ; Students, Nursing ; Thinking*

PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine the effects of personality characteristics and decision making type on the self-leadership of nursing students. METHODS: The participants were 336 nursing students using a self-report questionnaire. Data were analyzed using a t-test, ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: There were significant positive correlations between self-leadership and extraversion (r=.50, p<.001), agreeableness (r=.22, p<.001), conscientiousness (r=.60, p<.001), openness to experience (r=.36, p<.001), and rational style (r=.47, p<.001). However the correlation between self-leadership and dependent style was significantly negative (r=-.11, p=.044). Conscientiousness (β=.60, p<.001), extraversion (β=.28, p<.001), and rational style (β=.21, p<.001), openness to experience (β=.18, p<.001), and degree of leadership level (β=.10, p=.020) were identified as factors affecting self-leadership. The explanation power of this regression model was 50.0% and it was statistically significant (F=67.52, p<.001). CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicated that effective self-leadership programs should be developed by including conscientiousness, extraversion, openness to experience, and rational decision making.
Decision Making* ; Extraversion (Psychology) ; Humans ; Leadership ; Nursing* ; Students, Nursing*

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine effects of a learning portfolio by identifying the learning of nursing students taking a learning portfolio-utilized nursing management class. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. Participants were 83 senior students taking the nursing management course in one of the Departments of Nursing at 2 Universities. Experimental group (n=42) received a learning portfolio-utilized nursing management class 15 times over 15 weeks (3 hours weekly). Self-directed learning abilities, approaches to learning and learning flow of the participants were examined with self-report structured questionnaires. Data were collected between September 2 and December 16, 2014, and were analyzed using chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, independent t-test and ANCOVA with SPSS/PC version 21.0. RESULTS: After the intervention the experimental group showed significant increases in self-directed learning abilities, deep approaches to learning and learning flow compared to the control group. However, no significant difference was found between groups for surface approaches to learning. CONCLUSION: Learning activities using the learning portfolios could be effective in cultivating the learning competency for growth of knowledge, technology and professionalism by increasing personal concentration and organization ability of the nursing students so that they can react to the rapidly changing environment.
Adult ; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Personal Satisfaction ; *Problem-Based Learning ; Self Report ; Students, Nursing/*psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult