Effect of problem-solving skills training on psychological resilience, perceived stress and self-efficacy levels of nursing students

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of problem solving skills training on psychological resilience, perceived stress and self-efficacy levels of nursing students. Material and Methods: This study was conducted as a quasi-experimental randomized controlled design between November 2019 and February 2020 with pretest, posttest and 1 month follow-up measures. Participants were 71 second year nursing students from nursing faculty of Aydın Adnan Menderes University. Personal Information Form, Resilience Scale for Nurses, Social Problem-Solving Inventory Short Form, Perceived Stress Scale and General Self-efficacy Scale were used in data collection. Descriptive statistics, Yates chi-square test, Pearson chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test and "Repeated Measures ANCOVA, within-between interaction test" were used in data analysis. Results: The mean problem-solving level of intervention group students for the posttest and 1 month follow-up measures was significantly higher than the control group students (Fgroup: 19,304 p < 0,001). In addition, their psychological resilience level was significantly higher than the control group (Fgroup: 14,374 p < 0,001), their self-efficacy level was significantly higher than the control group (Fgroup: 17,045 p < 0,001), their perceived stress level was significantly lower than the control group (Fgroup: 20,666 p < 0,001) when the mean post-test and 1 month follow-up scores were compared. Conclusion: In this study, it was concluded that problem-solving skills training increased problem-solving, psychological resilience and self-efficacy levels of nursing students while it decreased their stress perceptions. Key words: Nursing education, problem solving, psychological stress, self efficacy.