Exploring Undergraduate Nursing Students' Experiences of Engaging With a Dialectical Behavior Therapy-Skills Group Intervention: Findings of a Thematic Analysis

Study Background: Nursing students often have high levels of stress leading to negative consequences for academic performance and overall well-being. Novel strategies are needed to help students manage stress. Purpose: To explore students' experiences with an evidence-based intervention-Dialectical Behavior Therapy-Skills Group (DBT-SG). Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study to pilot test a DBT-SG intervention, modified for use with undergraduate nursing students. Qualitative data collected as part of this study included focus groups and written responses on a study questionnaire. Thematic analysis of these data was undertaken to explore how students experienced the intervention. The results of this analysis are reported here. Results: Five themes were uncovered: experiencing stress and de-stressing, feeling accepted and validated, acquiring skills, shifting perspectives, and enhanced well-being. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that by engaging with DBT-SG, nursing students felt accepted and validated, acquired a variety of skills to cope with stress, as well as developed new perspectives, such as the value of practicing self-care, which contributed to enhanced well-being. Future research could build on these results by further exploring how to best create accepting and validating learning environments where students are encouraged to develop interpersonal relationship skills and enact self-care to further support their well-being and professional development.