Evaluating a stress management workshop on nursing student mental health and well-being

• Nursing students experience unique stressors throughout their nursing program. • Increased resilience and proactive coping may help lower stress levels. • Stress Management interventions promote nursing student wellbeing and success in future practice. Nursing students experience unique stressors and may benefit from stress management interventions to help build resilience and coping. The purpose of this study is to explore knowledge and self-perception of stress, resilience, and coping following a stress management workshop. Participants (N = 44) in this pre–post-test study were 3rd Semester Practical Nursing students attending a Historically Black Community College (HBCC) in the Southeastern United States. Participants attended a 1.5- hour workshop and completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Resilience Scale (RS), and Proactive Coping Subscale (PCS). T-tests compared survey responses of twenty-four completers. Of the 24 completers, 95.8% reported moderate to high stress levels (Mean = 23.2), moderate resilience (Mean = 135.1), and moderate coping (Mean = 44.2), with low (8.3%) support service utilization at enrollment. Post-test familiarity with coping strategies and RS scores significantly improved, both p < .05. Knowledge of stress symptoms, PSS scores, and PCS scores also improved. Stress management education supports nursing student well-being and should be incorporated into the nursing curriculum.