The Nursing Student Community: Modules to Augment the Positive Impact of Social Support

Over the course of two semesters, many components went into creating “The Nursing Student Community: Modules to Augment the Positive Impact of Social Support”. These components can be divided into the research, the creative project, and the combination of both. The research started with the question, “Is there a place for student-driven resources to improve upper-division nursing students’ academic success?”. To answer this question, the stress levels of average Americans, students in nursing school, and students in other baccalaureate programs were compared via standardized stress surveys. Once it was discovered that nursing students’ stress tends to trend higher, the reasons why were researched and broken down into three categories: the clinical experience, professional and social relationships, and grades. To combat these stress levels, it was found that the main coping strategies included social support, exercise, and mindfulness. The creative project, seen in the deliverable as screenshots of the Canvas course, is nine different modules focused on providing advice for nursing school and guidance on how to utilize the coping strategies of social support, exercise, and mindfulness. The combination of both includes a reflection on the experience, as well as the PowerPoint used during the defense of the thesis.