The effectiveness of stress management training program on depression, anxiety and stress of the nursing students

BACKGROUND Stress has been defined as a barrier to concentration, problem solving, decision making, and other necessary abilities for students' learning; it also has some symptoms and illnesses in the students such as depression and anxiety. In reviewing stress and its consequences, the methods of coping with stress in the method of response to it would be more important than the nature of stress itself. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness of stress management training program on depression, anxiety and stress rate of the nursing students. METHODS This parallel group randomized quasi-experimental trial, was done on 68 Bs nursing students of Nursing and Midwifery School in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences from 2010 to 2011. The questionnaires of this study consisted of individual characteristics and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-42). In a random fashion, The intervention group was trained with stress management training program in 8 two hours sessions, twice a week. The questionnaires were completed by both groups before, after and one month after the study. RESULTS The results of the study indicated that there was no significant difference before the intervention in depression, anxiety and stress mean scores in the two groups. After the intervention, the mean scores of anxiety and stress in the intervention group was 5.09 (4.87) and 8.93 (6.01) and in the control group was 10 (6.45) and 13.17 (7.20), that reduction in depression mean score was significantly greater in the intervention group in the control group (p = 0.040). Furthermore, the mean scores of anxiety and stress showed a significant difference between the two groups (Anxiety p = 0.001; Stress p = 0.011); this reduction also had been remained after a month. CONCLUSIONS According to the results of the present study, holding stress management training program workshops in different courses of the mental health department can improve mental health of the students.