A Comparison of Learned Helplessness Levels of First-Year and Final-Year Turkish Nursing Students

Objectives: Nursing training is stressful process and nursing students have both internal and external stress sources. To cope with these stressors, nursing students must have a strong sense of learned helplessness. Also low level of learned helplessness may lead to ineffective patient care. This descriptive study was planned in order to compare the learned helplessness levels of first-year and final-year nursing students. Methods: Sample of study was consisted of one hundred and seventy-one (171) nursing students who had been training at Giresun University, Faculty of Health Sciences. The data were collected by using the 'Learned Helplessness Scale'. ANOVA and t-test were used in data analysis. Results: Nursing students in both classes were above average in learned helplessness mean scores. No significant difference was found between the learned helplessness mean scores of first-year and final-year nursing students (p>0.05). But significant difference was found in learned helplessness mean score of students according to being between 23 and ↑-year age range and having a deceased father (p<0.05). Conclusion: Results suggest that learned helplessness levels of nursing students should be increased by empowerment and counseling programs. The factors affecting the learned helplessness should be studied.