Impacto de uma intervenção psicoeducacional na autoeficácia percebida de estudantes de enfermagem

Abstract

The transition from high school to university can be a stressful and challenging phase. In this way, research has shown that Nursing students often have some stress, anxiety, depression and reduced coping with adversity. Therefore, it is apparent that there is a need to extend research on these interventions that can promote and strengthen the skills needed to cope with personal and academic life adversities and, thus, avoiding or reducing illness. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of a psychoeducational program on levels of self-efficacy, self-esteem, and anxious and depressive symptoms in students at the time of beginning their Nursing graduation course. METHODS: Multicentric, almost experimental, time-series type research, developed in two public institutions of higher education, with 82 students. The psychoeducational program was developed based on the construction of self-efficacy and was based on the Nursing activities of the intervention "Strengthening Self-Esteem", proposed by Nursing Interventions Classification. The outcomes evaluated were: self-efficacy, measured by the General and Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale; self-esteem, measured by the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale; anxious and depressive symptoms, evaluated by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. RESULTS: Anxiety and depression were present in 73.17% and 31.1% of students, respectively. A higher frequency of moderate self-esteem (89.02%) and a moderate level of self-efficacy of most students (31.45 points) were observed. Indicator 9 of the NOC (I keep good appearance and hygiene) had a higher score than the others. Self-efficacy was associated with anxiety (HADS-A; P<0.001) and depression (HADS-D; P<0.001) and self-esteem was not associated with sociodemographic variables. Psychoeducational intervention had a positive effect on the perception of general self-efficacy of Nursing students. Self-esteem and anxious as well as depressive symptoms were not influenced. CONCLUSION Interventions based on positive mental health are important methods of prevention and could be developed each semester, especially during the first years of Nursing graduation. SOCIAL IMPACT: These results can provide scientific data to the directory of possible interventions that could be implemented by the academic community, since these are unprecedented in nature into the national context. A psychoeducational program based on NIC intervention is suggested since it has showed effectiveness for strengthening the perception of self-efficacy; that is, it could enable young person to face assertively personal and academic stress, in addition, diminishing negative effects of depression and anxiety. The implications of this study also comprise an advancement in the context of primary prevention, since it covers positive emotional resources that are essential to prevent the onset of negative mental clinical conditions, to the detriment of the predominance of studies aimed at students with depression and anxiety already established.