Enhancing critical thinking and emotional coping of nursing students through life skills training

In the dynamic healthcare landscape, nurses must develop life skills beyond clinical expertise to provide effective patient care and ensure professional growth. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a structured life skills training program for first-year B.Sc. Nursing students in Tamil Nadu, India. This true experimental pre-test-post-test design study was conducted in six randomly selected nursing colleges in Trichy district, Tamil Nadu. The sample included 257 first-year B.Sc. Nursing students, with 126 in the experimental group and 131 in the control group. The eight-week Life Skills Training Program consisted of weekly two-hour sessions. The experimental group showed significant improvements in critical thinking (F=64.26, p<0.001), decision making (F=35.02, p<0.001), problem solving (F=77.54, p<0.001) and coping with emotions (F=39.03, p<0.001) compared to the control group. Associations were found between life skills and socio-demographic variables such as the number of friends, hobbies, reason for choosing nursing and interest in the course.