Transforming nursing education: a review of stressors and strategies that support students’ professional socialization

Nurse educators are facing the challenge of creating new ways of teaching and facilitating enhanced learning experiences in clinical practice environments that are inherently complex, highly demanding, and unpredictable. The literature consistently reports the negative effects of excess stress and unsupportive relationships on wellbeing, self-efficacy, self-esteem, learning, persistence, and success. However, understanding contributing factors of stress, such as the student’s experiences of uncaring and oppressive interactions, is clearly not adequate. The transformation of nursing education requires a paradigm shift that embraces collegiality, collaboration, caring, and competence for students and the faculty. This paper reviews the literature on stress and its effects on nursing students. Grounded in theory related to stress and human caring, this paper focuses on the clinical environment and faculty-student relationships as major sources of students’ stress and offers strategies for mitigating stress while fostering learning and professional socialization of future nurses.