An explorative enquiry into the effects of psychological distress among nursing students at the National University of Lesotho

Abstract

University students have increased psychological distress than any other students in different countries Worldwide. Psychological distress is defined as a condition that one feels in response to having to cope with situations that are unsettling, frustrating or perceived as harmful or threatening. The study focused on exploring the effects of psychological distress on nursing students at National University of Lesotho. The study used an explorative and descriptive qualitative research design to collect data using semistructured interviews from a sample of 10 nursing students. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data and 3 themes and 11 subthemes were developed. Participants identified academic workload, time management, clinical placement, financial and socio-demographic factors as the main stressors. Poor academic performance, impaired physical wellbeing, emotional suffering and spiritual ill-health were among the identified effects of distress. The coping mechanisms which the nursing students employed included using available social support, motivating self and engaging in leisure activities. It was concluded that psychological distress has a great effect on nursing students and it results in poor academic performance and illness. Effective interventions can be adopted to improve coping with psychological stress factors and subsequent stress responses among nursing students.