Self-Care Practices among Nursing Students

 

Endorsed by CNSA in January, 2009

 

     Nursing students have a responsibility to protect their own health, as well as the health of others. However, nursing students often put self-care in last place of their other responsibilities. Self-care practices are the activities that maturing and mature persons initiate and perform, within time frames, on their own behalf in the interests of maintaining life, healthful functioning, continuing personal development and well-being, through meeting known requisites for functional and developmental regulations (Orem, 2001). Simply put, self-care practices can be used to maintain and promote one’s own health.

 

     Students traditionally have low levels of self-care, which is evident in many specific dimensions. Self-care can be effectively assessed using Orem’s Universal Self-Care Requisites (a full description of which is beyond the scope of this work) (2001). Areas included in this framework include: air, food, fluid, elimination, activity and rest, social interaction, normalcy, and prevention of hazards. All of these areas contribute to a holistic health portrait of the individual.

 

     Research into university student health paints a bleak picture. Riordan and Washburn (1997) assessed health behaviour in nursing students (N=82). Rates of physical activity dropped significantly between first year students to fourth year students. They also found no difference in new nursing students’ and graduates’ abilities to cope with stress. Chow and Kalischuk (2008) sampled nursing students to assess their nutritional practices. The found that 23% reported that they rarely ate well. Nursing students also indicated that on non-clinical practice days they consumed an average of six glasses of juice and water. However, on clinical days, 69% of students indicated that they drink two glasses of water. Vaez et al. (2006) established that university students drink more alcohol than their working peers and more often. Shriver and Scott-Stiles (2000) examined safe sex practices among Nursing and English students. Nursing students’ rates of condom use decreased during their time at university. Hours of sleep each night for nursing students was also found to be significantly lower than the general population (Clement, 2002).

 

     When all of these factors are considered, the state of nursing student health is nothing short of alarming. As future health care professionals, it is important that nursing students look after their own health, role model healthy behaviour, advocate for health promotion, and effectively protect personal wellbeing. As a self-regulating profession, it is essential that nurses look after themselves as well as their clients.

 

     CNSA believes that nursing students should be supported in looking after their own health. Nursing practice is optimized when nurses can care for others at their full capacity. CNSA has the responsibility to raise awareness about student health to key stakeholders, promote educational conditions that support student health, and empower nursing students to achieve their full health potential.

 

SUBMITTED BY:

Jennifer Jackson, St. Francis Xavier

Sarah Gaudet, ARD, St. Francis Xavier

 

References

Chow, J. & Kalischuk, R. G. (2008). Self-care for caring practice: Student nurses’ perspectives. International Journal for Human Caring, 12(3), 31-37.

Clement, M., Jankowski, L. W., Bouchard, L., Perreault, M., & Lepage, Y. (2002). Health behaviours of nursing students: A longitudinal study. The Journal of Nursing Education, 41(6), 257-265.

Orem, D. E. (2001). Nursing: Concepts of practice (6th Ed.). St. Louis, MI: Mosby.

Riordan, J. & Washburn, J. (1997). Comparison of baccalaureate student lifestyle health behaviours entering and completing the nursing program. The Journal of Nursing Education, 36(6), 262-265.

Shriver, C. B. & Scott-Stiles, A. (2000). Health habits of nursing versus non-nursing students: A longitudinal study. The Journal of Nursing Education, 39(7), 308-314.

Vaez, M., Ponce de Leon, A., & Laflamme, L., (2006). Health-related determinants of perceived quality of life: A comparison between first-year university students and their working peers. Work, 26(2), 167-177.