COVID-19 Risk Perceptions and Psychological Distress Levels of Nursing Students and Influencing Factors

Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the COVID-19 risk perceptions, psychological distress levels of nursing students, and the affecting factors. Methods: The sample of the descriptive and cross-sectional study included 338 students from the nursing department of a university. Data were collected using the personal information form, COVID-19 Related Psychological Distress Scale and COVID-19 Perceived Risk Scale between 17 June-17 July 2021 via online. Ethics committee approval, institutional permission, and written consent from the students were obtained to conduct the research. Descriptive statistical methods, Kruskal Wallis test, Mann Whitney-U test, Spearman correlation analysis test and linear regression analysis test were used in the analysis of the data. Results: The mean score of the COVID-19 Related Psychological Distress Scale was found to be 39.61±8.75. It was determined that the mean total score of the COVID-19 Psychological Distress Scale was higher, and the differences were significant (p