Disaster Preparedness and Resilience of Nursing Students: A Cross‐Sectional Study in 2 Different State Universities in Turkey

BACKGROUND: Health service provision related to disasters includes special tasks specific to each stage of disaster management. Students who will be future nurses have important roles and responsibilities in these stages. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the knowledge, skills, and psychological resilience of nursing students studying at two different state universities in Turkey regarding disasters and the factors affecting their knowledge, skills, and psychological resilience levels. METHODS: The data of 870 participants were analyzed using the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool (DPET) and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CDRISC), using the SPSS 26.0 program. RESULTS: The results showed that nursing students had moderate levels of preparedness (M = 3.26 ± 0.38), response (M = 3.31 ± 1.30), recovery (M = 3.35 ± 1.40), and resilience (M = 23.67 ± 7.36). Preparedness, response, and recovery scores are higher for those who have received disaster training before, those in upper grades, and those who have personal disaster preparation (p < 0.001). In addition, multiple linear regression analysis showed that nurses' disaster preparedness, response, and recovery scores were statistically significantly positively correlated with doing a hospital internship (p < 0.001), being ready to manage disaster (p < 0.001), the importance of disaster education (p < 0.001) and considering oneself ready for a disaster (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Nursing students' participation in every stage of the disaster management cycle, the preparation of legal regulations regarding their duties in disasters, and the establishment of a standard education curriculum at the undergraduate level will contribute to their development in the field of disaster management.