Is the mental health of nursing students in danger?

However, nursing students had higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress than nursing students and medical students. Bernadeta Mazurek Melnyk, APRN The study was conducted before the pandemic, which suggests the situation has likely worsened, says study lead writer Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, Ph.D., APRN-CNP, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, vice chairman for health promotion, director of health on the university and college dean of nursing at Ohio State University. “Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are facing a terrible mental health epidemic,” Melnyk said, citing an announcement from the US Surgeon General advisory released in December 2021 on the mental health crisis amongst young people. But there are steps universities and health systems can take to enhance the mental health and lifestyle of scholars and school, in response to Melnyk, who developed the cognitive-behavioral skills-building tool STRONG MIND/ STRONG MIND programs. Universities and health care systems across the country are using these evidence-based programs to cut back stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. The programs also help improve healthy lifestyles amongst students, nurses and doctors. Previous studies have also shown improved academic performance.

Research looks at student stress

Melnyk and co-authors described rates of mental health problems and healthy lifestyle behaviors reported by medical and nursing faculty and students. They compared the info with data from “other” categories of scholars and school in fields corresponding to dentistry, pharmacy, public health and social work.

Of the 869 faculty and 1,087 students who responded, roughly 50% reported getting the advisable seven hours of sleep per night, and one-third achieved 150 minutes of physical activity per week.

Students had more depression – 9.9% in comparison with lecturers – 5.5%. More students also had anxiety – 25.5% in comparison with lecturers – 11.5%. Students were also less prone to report eating no less than five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, sleeping no less than 7 hours an evening, or engaging in no less than 150 minutes of weekly physical activity. AND temporary description of the research within the Journal of Nursing education also found that nursing students experienced “significantly more stress, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and stress-related illnesses” in comparison with students generally.

Make Wellness a part of the culture

Melissa Burdi, DNP, global vice chairman at Purdue University and dean of the School of Nursing, says maintaining the mental health of school and students is paramount to the college of nursing. She said Purdue Global incorporates mental health issues into all of its nursing degree programs. “During the pandemic, Purdue University Global School of Nursing faculty and staff have completed social determinants of health (SDOH) training specific to the Healthy People 2030 framework to better understand the impact that socioeconomic needs, mental health needs and lack of food security, for example, can impact student learning,” Burdi said. Purdue Global offers worker and student assistance programs designed to supply quite a lot of support options. According to Melnyk, university leadership must construct a culture of well-being. But first they have to address the systemic problems that cause burnout. If the system is broken and there are problems corresponding to understaffing, work overload and problems with electronic health records, all of the wellness programs on the earth shall be of little help, she added.

“You have to solve the problems in the system and provide your people with great resources, culture and evidence-based programs,” she said.

Melnyk’s national research on healthy lifestyle behaviors amongst nurses and health care providers suggests that educators aren’t on the right track, she said.

“Faculties are not integrating wellness into their culture and curricula,” Melnyk said. “We will raise another generation of students who will not take care of themselves.”

So how could nursing schools incorporate wellness into the curriculum, especially when so many students are taking classes online? Melnyk said Ohio State has implemented a culture of wellness, offering a menu of evidence-based programs, health coaches and a telehealth wellness center. “We provide all these types of programs and resources and incorporate them into our curricula,” she said. “This is in our vision. We have a whole strategic plan around this. Many institutions don’t do this.” For example, Ohio State has implemented system-wide programs to enhance the mental health and well-being of school and students. Options include an evidence-based cognitive skills constructing program. “This is because we know that cognitive behavioral therapy is the best evidence-based treatment for depression and anxiety, and yet so few people take it,” Melnyk said. To overcome the stigma around mental health, Ohio also provides anonymous mental health screening through an interactive screening program offered by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

“The nurse often cannot make the obligatory changes to the system, but she will be able to support them. Seriously, we do an important job taking good care of everyone else, but we frequently don’t prioritize taking good care of ourselves,” Melnyk said.

Mental health support resources

Melnyk and Burdi provided the following resources for students and nurses: https://nam.edu/compendium-of-key-resources-for-improving-clinician-well-being/ https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or call toll-free 800-273-8255 https://www.samhsa.gov/ or call toll-free 1-800-662-4357 https://www.aa.org/ https://www.na.org/ https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders https://www.rainn.org/ https://www.thehotline.org/ or call toll-free 800.799.SAFE (7233) if you are concerned that your Internet use may be monitored. (For teens impacted by housing, food insecurity and mental health needs) https://www.covenanthouse.org/