A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY TO ASSESS THE PARENTAL STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG THE PARENTS OF NURSING STUDENTS IN SELECTED COLLEGE OF NURSING, NEW DELHI

Introduction: Stress is a state of concern or mental strain carried on by an unpleasant circumstance. It is a natural human response that pushes us to tackle challenges. It has physiological and psychological impacts and can have both favorable and undesirable effect on us. The aim of the study is to assess the Parental Stress and Coping Strategies among the Parents of Nursing Students in selected college of nursing. Methods: The current study was a descriptive study with quantitative research design. 63 parents of the nursing students (n=63) were included in this study. The baseline assessment of parental stress and coping strategies were assessed using Parental Stress Scale (PSS), Brief-Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced Inventory (BriefCOPE). The data collection was done through google form. Result: The results revealed that the majority of the parents have moderate level of stress (84%), followed by low level of stress (11%) and rest (5%) have high level of stress. The mean and standard deviation of the overall coping scores was 2.32±1.08. The mean and standard deviation of the domains of coping were Problem-Focused Coping (2.79±0.59), Emotion-Focused Coping (2.33±0.46), and Avoidant Coping (1.84±0.46). It was interpreted that most of the parents were using problem focused coping. There was a moderate positive relationship between parental stress and coping strategies, which implies that if parental stress increases coping strategies of the parents also tent to increase. There is a significant association of parental stress and coping strategies with the socio-demographic variables of the parents of the nursing students. The associations between the parental stress and socio-demographic variables of the parents of nursing students were educational qualification (p=0.01). The association of coping strategies among the parents of the nursing students was found with Age (p=0.02), Relation (p=0.03) and Occupation (p=0.03) of the parents of nursing students. There is a significant association of parental stress with the sociodemographic variables (age (p=0.02) and primary financial support for education (p=0.03)) of nursing students. There no significant association of the coping strategies and socio-demographic variables of nursing students. Conclusion: The study reveals that majority of the parents of nursing students have moderate level of stress with positive coping. There was moderately positive relationship between the parental stress and coping strategies which suggests that parents tend to use more coping strategies when parental stress levels increases. It also reveals that socio-demographic variables also affect the parental stress and coping strategies of the parents of nursing students.