Experience of Stress: Burdened by a Heavy Load - Essay Example

300). Insights derived from this study are relevant not only to mental health nurse education but also to academic staff delivering professional education programmes to healthcare practitioners in a variety of settings. Introduction According to Alder (2008), stress is a natural phenomenon that everyone experiences at some point in life and coping is the natural counterpart of stress. Stress has been noted as a difficult and complex concept, often associated with the individual and their interaction with internal and external.

Although some “stress leads to increased motivation and achievement, recent nursing research into the concept demonstrates growing concerns of prolonged stress among the nursing profession”. It has been acknowledged that stress has potential a positive impact upon the educational process, including particularly ‘academic performance and personal social life. Therefore, this research sought to deepen understanding of mental health nursing students’ experience of personal stress through narrative accounts.

It is anticipated that “greater knowledge and understanding of this concept will facilitate more proactive approaches to student support, such as personal tutors, and also aim to raise academic achievement and create generally healthier approaches” (Alder, 2008, P. 233-244). Objective of the study This paper aimed to find out and investigate into personal stress experienced by mental health student nurses. Further the purpose of the study was to contribute to the knowledge of the impact of personal life stressors.

Finally, this study focused on the following “themes: event, meaning, effects, and ability to move beyond the stress, impudence on life and constraints and demands” (Aruba, 2011, P. 983-988). Research question This paper will focus on answering the following question: How does mental health nursing students’ experience of personal stress impact upon them? Review of literature Various researches have highlighted intense levels of anxiety associated with that undertaking nurse education; the majority, however, primarily focus on general rather than mental health nurses, Burns and Mitchell (2006).

Surprisingly, none is focusing predominantly on student mental health nurses’ experience of personal stress during training. According to Alder (2008), experiences are not transferable across disciplines and recommend separate research into stress within each discipline of nursing. Therefore, “this current study observes mental health nursing students independently, bearing in mind the belief that professions with higher levels of interaction, such as mental health nursing, are most stressful” (p. 345). Relevant research examining the experience of stress in general in nurse training states that it does “exist for nursing students within many contexts, such as clinical and academic environments, death of patients, clinical and educational relationships, and stress as a result of lack of financial support and satisfaction” (Burns and Mitchell, 2006).

According to Stress Aruba (2011), stress and burnout have been recognized as major factors leading to negative and maladaptive coping, such as increased use of alcohol and attempted suicide. Previous papers pointed out that “