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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 3
Publication Date: March 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.93.11933. Kang, S. (2022). Study Trends on Resilience of Nursing Students-Focusing on Nursing Journals Published in South Korea. Advances
in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(3). 159-167.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Study Trends on Resilience of Nursing Students-Focusing on
Nursing Journals Published in South Korea
Se-Won Kang
PhD, RN, Assistant Professor
Dongseo University, Department of Nursing
47 Jurye-ro, Sasang-gu, Busan 47011, South Korea
ABSTRACT
This study is a literature review to understand the trends in the nursing students’
resilience published in nursing journals in South Korea. Among the papers
published in nursing journals in South Korea, the research papers included
“resilience” and “nursing students.” As a result of the search, 40 papers suitable for
literature review, which included three experimental studies and 37 descriptive
studies, were selected for relational and factor analysis. The most frequently used
variables along with resilience were self-esteem, self-leadership, depression, and
emotional intelligence. In the future, intervention studies to strengthen the
resilience of nursing students should be conducted.
Keywords: resilience, nursing students, study, trend
INTRODUCTION
Resilience is the ability to recover from adversity and revive or successfully cope with it [1-2],
as well as the ability to effectively use environmental resources and turn adversity into
opportunities [3-4]. Nursing students experience considerable stress not only in academics but
also in clinical practice because of the nature of their majors. Disparity between theory and
practice, lack of practical opportunities, lack of nursing knowledge and skills, interpersonal
difficulties, and a large number of tasks are major causes of stress [5-6]. Nursing students’
resilience is a personal developmental process that helps them successfully overcome stressful
and difficult situations, and it has been reported that the successful experience accumulated by
resilience improves the adaptive ability and well-being of nursing students [7-8]. In a study of
nursing students, students with high resilience showed high major satisfaction, practical
satisfaction, clinical performance, good communication and problem-solving ability, and low
anxiety and stress [10-11]. Therefore, resilience to overcome the stress experienced by nursing
students in class and clinical practice and to turn adversity into a mature experience is a
necessary requirement for nursing students to grow into future nurses.
Studies on the resilience of nursing students in Korea have started to show since 2000 and have
been increasing over the past five years. Studies are being conducted to investigate the
relationship between resilience and psychological variables such as anxiety, stress, and coping
capacity, as well as competencies such as problem-solving ability, clinical practice competency,
and communication ability of nursing major students. Analyzing resilience studies related to
nursing students, identifying research trends on resilience, and revitalizing insufficient
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 3, March-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
research fields can provide basic data that can be helpful in nursing education. This study
analyzed the research design and variables.
METHODS
Study design
This literature review aimed to analyze research trends related to the resilience of nursing
students.
Selection and analysis of papers
To select research papers related to the resilience of nursing students, the database of RISS,
which has been used for a long time in nursing and health-related journal searches in Korea,
was used. The search terms were limited to “resilience” and “nursing students.” As a result,
papers published in the last five years (2017–2021) were searched, resulting in selection of 45
papers. Of these, 40 papers (excluding duplicate papers) were selected as the final analysis
papers. The 40 final selections were analyzed using the study design and related variables.
RESULT
Study design
There were three experimental studies among the 40 papers (see Table 2). Thirty-seven
papers were used as descriptive studies for relational and factor analysis. Among these, five
studies analyzed the mediating effect of resilience. In terms of year, there were nine in 2021,
nine in 2020, nine in 2018, seven in 2018, and six in 2017.
Related concepts
There were 66 variables that were used to assess resilience (see Table 1). The most frequently
used variables were self-esteem, self-leadership, depression, emotional intelligence (four
times), empathy, college life adaptation, and stress (three times). The variables that showed
two frequencies were academic stress, anxiety, career identification, clinical performance
ability, clinical practice stress, communication skills, QoL, and subjective happiness.
DISCUSSION
This study examined research trends related to the resilience of nursing students in South
Korea. For the literature analysis, papers from the last five years, including the term “resilience”
and “nursing students,” were analyzed.
All but three experimental studies were conducted as research studies for the correlation and
factor analyses. The experimental study was conducted using a one-group pretest-posttest
design. Research on nursing students’ resilience has shown quantitative expansion in the last
five years due to an increase in research demands.
As a result, a number of basic research studies have been conducted, forming a foothold for
intervention research. Sixty-six variables comprising of academic-related, clinical practice- related, and socio-psychological variables were investigated regarding the resilience of nursing
students. Many variables were related to clinical practice performance. In future research, it
will be necessary to conduct various interventional studies to strengthen the resilience of
nursing students.
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Kang, S. (2022). Study Trends on Resilience of Nursing Students-Focusing on Nursing Journals Published in South Korea. Advances in Social Sciences
Research Journal, 9(3). 159-167.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.93.11933
Table1. Concepts of study related resilience
No Concepts of study related
resilience Frequency No Concepts of study
related resilience Frequency
1 Academic achievement 1 35 Life satisfaction 1
2 Academic burnout 1 36 Meaning in life 1
3 Academic stress 2 37 Nursing professional
value 1
4 Anxiety 2 38 Perceived stress 1
5 Attitude to death 1 39 Personality 1
6 Authentic leadership 1 40 Post-traumatic growth 1
7 Career decision-making self- efficacy 1 41 Proactivity in problem
solving 1
8 Career identification 2 42 Problem-solving
ability 1
9 Career preparation 1 43 Psychological well- being 1
10 Clinical competence 1 45 Quality of life 2
11 Clinical learning environment 1 46 Role transition 1
12 Clinical performance ability 2 47 Satisfaction in major 1
13 Clinical practice adaptation 1 48 Self-control 1
14 Clinical practice stress 2 49 Self-efficacy 1
15 Clinical practice transitional
shock 1 50 Self-efficacy of career 1
16 Clinical violence 1 51 Self-efficacy of clinical
practice 1
17 College life adaptation 3 52 Self-esteem 4
18 Communication competence 1 53 Self-leadership 4
19 Communication skill 2 54 Sense 1
20 Community resilience 1 55 Simulation-based
education 1
21 Critical thinking 1 56 Simulation-based
hands-on training 1
22 Death anxiety 1 57 Social support 1
23 Depression 4 58 Strength 1
24 Emotional intelligence 4 59 Stress 3
25 Emotional labor 1 60 Stress in clinical
nursing education 1
26 Emotional response 1 61 Stress in clinical
practice 1
27 Empathy 3 62 Subjective happiness 2
28 End-of-term 1 63 Suicidal ideation 1
29 Exposure to violence during
clinical practicum 1 64 System thinking 1