Impact of Exposure to Verbal Abuse on Nursing Students’ Emotional Labor and Clinical Practice Stress During Clinical Training

This study aimed to investigate the level of verbal abuse and emotional labor and clinical practice stress of nursing students during clinical practice and determine the effects of the exposure to verbal abuse on emotional labor and clinical practice stress. 212 nursing students, who were juniors and seniors performing clinical practice in Seoul, participated in this study and the data were collected from October to November 2013. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Significant positive correlation was found among verbal abuse, emotional labor, and clinical practice stress; verbal abuse accounted for 10.4% of emotional labor and 33.8% of clinical practice stress. These results demonstrate that nursing students are exposed to verbal abuse during clinical practice and may consequently suffer from greater practice stress and emotional labor. The results are expected to be used as fundamental data that can help improve the quality of practical education and the practice environment and develop nursing education programs.