Investigation of nursing students' self-confidence and anxiety levels in clinical decision making and their perceptions of individualized care

Aim: This study was conducted to examine nursing students' self-confidence and anxiety levels in clinical decision making and their perceptions of individualized care. Material and Method: The research is descriptive and correlational. The universe of the research consists of 400 students studying at Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University Faculty of Health Sciences. The sample consists of 308 students who meet the criteria for inclusion in the study. In the study, the Introductory Information Form, Self-Confidence Anxiety Scale for Clinical Decision Making in Nursing and Individualized Care Scale-A-Nurse version were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, independent groups t-test, variance analysis, Spearman and Pearson correlation analysis were used in the analysis of data. Results: 72.1% of the students are female, 34.1% are 2nd year students and the average age is 21.68±2.65. The students' self-confidence sub-dimension mean score of the Clinical Decision Making Self-Confidence Anxiety Scale in Nursing was calculated as 106.14±21.22, the anxiety sub-dimension mean score was 62.31±22.04, and the Individualized Care Scale-A-Nurse Version mean score was 4.06±0.59. A positive, low-level relationship was found between the Clinical Decision Making Self-Confidence Anxiety self-confidence sub-dimension in Nursing and the Individualized Care Scale-A-Nurse Version, and a negative, low-level relationship was found with the anxiety sub-dimension (p<0.05). Conclusion: As a result of the research, it was determined that as students' self-confidence in clinical decision making increased, their perception of individualized care increased and their anxiety levels decreased. Initiatives can be made to increase students' self-confidence, reduce their anxiety, and increase their awareness of individualized care. Keywords: Anxiety, Clinical, Decision Making, Nursing Individualized Care, Self-Confidence.