Student nurses' bullying, social support and their health status during clinical practicum programmes

Aims This study was to explore the student nurses' bullying, social support and their health status during clinical practicum programmes and the predictors of health status among student nurses during clinical practicum programmes. Methods A cross-sectional design with structured questionnaires was used, recruiting 200 student nurses in a 5-year junior college programme in south Taiwan. Results The significant predictors of nursing students' health status during clinical practicum programmes were 'whether experiencing bullying situations during clinical practicum' and 'low social support'. Conclusion In order to prevent bullying during clinical practicum, encouraging nursing students to report all the clinical practicum bullying incidents, providing counselling to nursing students and arranging clinical practicum bullying prevention courses to students were important. Moreover, providing instructors and nursing staff with teaching, communication and feedback skills might help nursing students prevent bullying incidents during clinical practicum programmes. A longitudinal study design was suggested for the future study in order to assess the cause-effect relationship of the bullying and social support on health among students during clinical practicum