Nursing students' preparation for adversity: Exploring the curriculum as a source of learning that prepares nursing students to cope with workplace adversity

Nursing, like many other professions, is impacted negatively by the problem of adversity. It is widely documented that nurses experience stress and anxiety as a result of bullying, difficult working conditions and the accumulation of multiple stressors that deplete job satisfaction. Adversity amongst nursing students has not been widely explored, and it was hypothesised that with greater understanding of the unique experience of these students, that solutions could be generated that could enrich the curriculum. A study was designed to elicit stories of adversity from nursing students in order to understand what they anticipated might happen in the workplace and, uncover what they actually experienced. The study was undertaken at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), Australia, in an undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing Science 3-year programme. Critical social theory methodology, as developed by Antonio Gramsci, was chosen to illuminate how inequalities that nursing students experience are not always perpetuated consciously, but can be a failure to notice that injustice is taking place. When taking a critical social stance, educational solutions that address adversity can focus on awareness raising on the impact of culture and cultural norms on interpersonal and interprofessional relationships. By examining how discursive practices can be perpetuated, and resisted, the study sought to identify possibilities for change to build a more resilient workforce. Data were collected in three stages: individual interview groups (stage 1 and 2) included 7 nursing students from years 1-3 of the programme. Recruitment of nursing student interviewees was completed through email on the university intranet site. The focus group interview (stage 3) was composed of 5 academic staff. These participants were the researcher’s peers as they were involved in teaching into the undergraduate nursing programme at USC. Convenience sampling was used to recruit these academics for their role as peer educators.