Effects of problem-solving skills development training on resilience, perceived stress, and self-efficacy in nursing students: A randomised controlled trial

This study aimed to investigate the effects of problem-solving skills development training for nursing students on their levels of resilience, perceived stress, and self-efficacy.Although there are many studies on the problem-solving skills of nursing students, few have been based on the social problem-solving model. Most are cross-sectional and descriptive studies. Surprisingly, the number of studies that examine the effects of training for problem solving in nursing students is also quite limited.This was a single-blind, randomised controlled trial.The study was conducted at the department of nursing of a state university in Western Turkey. Seventy-two second-year nursing students initially participated in the study. The mean age of the participants was 19.97 ± 1.39 years. Of the participants, 72.2% were women, and 70.8% did not consider themselves academically successful. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental or control group. The experimental group received problem-solving skills development training based on the Social Problem-Solving Model once a week in a total of seven weeks (eight sessions), in which two sessions were in the last week. Duration of each session took at least 55 min and 150 min at max. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire that included a personal information form, Resilience Scale for Nurses, Social Problem Solving-Inventory-Short Form, Perceived Stress Scale, and General Self-Efficacy Scale. Measurements were performed at three different times: at the beginning of the study (T0), immediately after the training provided to the experimental group (T1), and one month follow-up measurement after the intervention (T2). Repeated-measures analysis of variance and covariance were performed to analyse data.The mean post-training and 1-month follow-up scores for problem-solving, resilience, and self-efficacy of the students in the experimental group (the mean of T1 and T2 scores) were significantly higher, and the mean post-training and 1-month follow-up perceived stress scores of the students in the experimental group was significantly lower than those of the control group.This study concluded that problem-solving skills training based on a social problem-solving model provided to nursing students increased their social problem solving, resilience, and self-efficacy levels and reduced their perceived stress. Therefore, further studies that plan intervention and training programs aimed at improving the social problem-solving levels of nursing students and include social problem-solving courses in university curricula are recommended.