Evaluation of a digital programme for final year nursing students during COVID-19.

AIM

The aim of this study was to evaluate a digital programme aimed to address COVID-19 related anxiety of final year undergraduate nursing students on returning to the clinical practice during the pandemic in South Africa.

BACKGROUND

In South Africa, concern about the physical and psychological safety of nursing students resulted in the planning of a psychological first aid program to facilitate nursing students return to clinical practice.

DESIGN

A survey was conducted in September 2020 following the August 2020 return of final year nursing students to clinical facilities.

METHODS

All final year nursing students were invited to participate in the study ( = 196). An online survey was circulated via WhatsApp asking respondents to rate their anxiety and fear of COVID-19 before and after return to practice following an intervention (e. Related pair analysis was done on the main outcome measures of anxiety, COVID-19 fears and concerns using Related Samples Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests.

RESULTS

After the programme, the respondents reported a significant reduction in anxiety ( = 2.92,  =.004) and COVID fear (0.3.1,  =.001), specifically related to infecting family, being exposed to COVID-19 at work, propagating infection at work and lacking access to COVID-19 information and communication.

CONCLUSION

The implementation of a dedicated digital programme, underpinned by a sound theory base of psychological first aid, may have decreased anxiety and fear in nursing students during clinical practice in the pandemic.Contribution: The study contributes to evidence on psychological first aid support of nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic.