The Relationship Between Students’ Liking of Children and Clinical Comfort and Worry in Pediatric Clinics

Aim: This study was conducted to examine the relationship between students’ liking of children and clinical comfort and worry in pediatric clinics. Method: This study is descriptive and cross-sectional. It was conducted with 124 nursing students who took the Child Health and Diseases Nursing course at a state university in Izmir, Türkiye. Research data was collected between Febru ary and March 2022 using the “Student Descriptive Information Form”, “Barnett Liking of Children Scale”, and “Pediatric Nursing Students Clinical Comfort and Worry Assessment Tool”. In data analysis, number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis test and Spearman correlation analysis were performed. Results: The mean age of the students participating in the study was 21. 68±1. 17 years, 71. 8%were female and 87. 9% had at least one sibling. It was determined that 64. 5% of the students were involved in childcare before, 96% played games with children, and 85. 5% enjoyed playing games with children. The Barnett Child Liking of Children Scale mean score of the students is 82. 15±16. 68, which is high. The mean score of the Clinical Comfort sub-dimension of the Pediatric Nur sing Students Clinical Comfort and Worry Assessment Tool was 14. 04±2. 83; The Worry Assessment sub-dimension score average was determined as 12. 00±3. 42. T he mean of both sub-dimensions is moderate. A low-level negative correlation was found between the clinical comfort sub-dimension of the Pediatric Nursing Students Clinical Comfort and Worry Assessment Tool and the Liking of Child Scale, and a low-level positive correlation was found with the worry assessment sub-dimension (respectively; p