Cortisol dynamics in undergraduate nursing students during clinical practice: protocol for an exploratory cross-sectional study.

Fernanda Loureiro, Carlos Família, Maria Helena Barroso, Ricardo Ventura Baúto, A Vanessa Antunes

BMJ open 2023 Jul 10

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This paper presents a protocol for the Investigation of Cortisol Dynamics in Undergraduate Nursing Students, a funded project aiming to understand the fluctuations in anxiety and salivary cortisol levels due to clinical setting changes and the anxiety associated with clinical practice. This study is an exploratory, cross-sectional, observational study that will be conducted at a health and science school in Portugal. Data collection will involve phycological assessment instruments for personality, anxiety, stress, depression and saliva cortisol levels. The target population consists of undergraduate nursing students enrolled in our institution for the academic year of 2022/2023 (N=272), of whom we aim to recruit 35% (N=96) to the study. The project obtained approval from the Institutional Review Board of the Egas Moniz-Cooperativa de Ensino Superior, CRL, on 5 July 2022 (ID: 116/21.22) and ethical approval from the Egas Moniz Ethics Committee on 28 July 2022 (ID:1110.22). Informed consent will be obtained from those who wish to participate, ensuring students' voluntary participation in the project. The results of this study will be disseminated through open-access peer-reviewed publications and presented at scientific events. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Citation

Fernanda Loureiro, Carlos Família, Maria Helena Barroso, Ricardo Ventura Baúto, A Vanessa Antunes. Cortisol dynamics in undergraduate nursing students during clinical practice: protocol for an exploratory cross-sectional study. BMJ open. 2023 Jul 10;13(7):e071062