Abstract
Background: Initiatives to address the US nursing shortage include increasing enrollment, standardizing education, and supporting student success (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2024; Spector et al., 2022). Despite reports of poor study habits and difficulty adapting to science courses, few studies examine study and time management strategies in pre-nursing students (Felicilda-Reynaldo et al., 2017). Mindfulness-based programs improve mental health outcomes in nursing students (Aloufi et al., 2021); yet research on mindfulness programs with pre-nursing students is lacking. Identifying success strategies pre-nursing students find useful is key to improving academic retention (Shelton, 2012). Therefore, this study aimed to qualitatively explore which content included in an introduction to nursing course was most impactful for pre-nursing students.
Methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted during Spring 2022 with pre-nursing students attending a large public university in the southwestern United States. An Introduction to Nursing Course offered an intervention focused on helping students 1.) improve time management and study strategies, 2.) develop stress management and self-care skills, and 3.) increase awareness of self-compassion content and strategies. Students identified which content was most useful to them during an end-of-course reflective writing assignment. Deductive reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop study themes and codes based on the course content.
Results: Participants (n=63) were female (85.7%) with an average age of 34.2 years and ethnically diverse. For students who found the time management and study strategies to be most helpful, themes centered on the necessity of juggling and balancing responsibilities and developing study skills to support their academic success. For students who found the stress management and self-care skills to be the most impactful, a theme of improving my quality of life emerged. The self-compassion content was novel and useful for many participants. Themes that reflected their awareness of the benefits of self-compassion included acknowledging suffering and speaking kindly, not harshly, to myself.
Conclusion: Nurse educators should consider integrating these concepts into curricula to enhance students’ time and stress management skills and psychosocial well-being. Such strategies can foster resilience and academic persistence among pre-nursing students.
Notes
Funding Acknowledgement:
Sigma Theta Tau International / Chamberlain University Grant (2021)
References:
Aloufi, M. A., Jarden, R. J., Gerdtz, M. F., & Kapp, S. (2021). Reducing stress, anxiety and depression in undergraduate nursing students: Systematic review. Nurse Education Today, 102, 104877. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2021.104877
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2021). The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2021.pdf
Ayoub, A. S., & El-Aziz, E. M. A. (2018). Enhancing study skills among freshman nursing students: An intervention study. IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science, 7(3), 22-29. https://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jnhs/papers/vol7-issue3/Version-6/D0703062229.pdf
Shelton, E. N. (2012). A model of nursing student retention. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 9(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1515/1548-923X.2334
Spector, N., Silvestre, J., McIntosh, Q., & Kaminski-Ozturk, N. (2022). National Nursing Education Annual Report: 2020–2021 Aggregate Data. National Council of State Boards of Nursing. https://www.ncsbn.org/public-files/AnnualReport-AggregateData-Report.pdf
Sigma Membership
Delta Theta
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Descriptive/Correlational
Research Approach
Qualitative Research
Keywords:
Curriculum Development, Teaching and Learning Strategies, Stress and Coping, Time Management, Study Skills, Students, Nursing Students, Stress Management, Health Self-Care, Health
Recommended Citation
Urban, Regina W. and Jennings, Leslie A., "Pre-Nursing Students' Reflections of the Most Useful Success Strategies: A Qualitative Study" (2026). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 282.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2026/presentations_2026/282
Conference Name
37th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Conference Year
2026
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-09-18
Funder
Sigma Foundation for Nursing
Second Funder
Chamberlain University
Pre-Nursing Students' Reflections of the Most Useful Success Strategies: A Qualitative Study
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Background: Initiatives to address the US nursing shortage include increasing enrollment, standardizing education, and supporting student success (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2024; Spector et al., 2022). Despite reports of poor study habits and difficulty adapting to science courses, few studies examine study and time management strategies in pre-nursing students (Felicilda-Reynaldo et al., 2017). Mindfulness-based programs improve mental health outcomes in nursing students (Aloufi et al., 2021); yet research on mindfulness programs with pre-nursing students is lacking. Identifying success strategies pre-nursing students find useful is key to improving academic retention (Shelton, 2012). Therefore, this study aimed to qualitatively explore which content included in an introduction to nursing course was most impactful for pre-nursing students.
Methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted during Spring 2022 with pre-nursing students attending a large public university in the southwestern United States. An Introduction to Nursing Course offered an intervention focused on helping students 1.) improve time management and study strategies, 2.) develop stress management and self-care skills, and 3.) increase awareness of self-compassion content and strategies. Students identified which content was most useful to them during an end-of-course reflective writing assignment. Deductive reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop study themes and codes based on the course content.
Results: Participants (n=63) were female (85.7%) with an average age of 34.2 years and ethnically diverse. For students who found the time management and study strategies to be most helpful, themes centered on the necessity of juggling and balancing responsibilities and developing study skills to support their academic success. For students who found the stress management and self-care skills to be the most impactful, a theme of improving my quality of life emerged. The self-compassion content was novel and useful for many participants. Themes that reflected their awareness of the benefits of self-compassion included acknowledging suffering and speaking kindly, not harshly, to myself.
Conclusion: Nurse educators should consider integrating these concepts into curricula to enhance students’ time and stress management skills and psychosocial well-being. Such strategies can foster resilience and academic persistence among pre-nursing students.
Description
This presentation examines pre-nursing students’ reflections on an educational intervention designed to enhance time management, stress reduction, and self-compassion. Findings highlight which strategies students perceived as most impactful and offer evidence-based insights for curriculum development to improve retention and resilience in nursing education.