Psychological Wellbeing of Nursing Students during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Research Proposal

Student Ethics Application Form – NS506
Section 1: Approval
● Completed application forms will be approved by the module team
Module tutor: Date:
Section 2: Researcher details
Names of student team members (please do not include student ID)
Section 3: Project details
Project title and timescale (add this information in week 6 of the module)
Title: Psychological well-being of nursing students during COVID-19
pandemic
Proposed start date
of data collection:
Proposed end date
of data collection:
Topic area to be explored in the project
Please state briefly the general topic to be explored in the project.
Psychological well-being of nursing students during COVID-19 pandemic
Background and rationale for the project

The information in this section will provide an introduction to your project. This would
normally start with general observations about the topic of interest, then use information from
published sources to explain the background to the project and the rationale for undertaking
it. It should be clear how the specific research aim(s) (next section) emerge from this
discussion.
Stress is an everyday experience during nursing studentship. The COVID-19 pandemic and
associated lockdowns and restrictions exacerbated it due to interruption in education, delayed clinical
practice, delayed career advancement and professional status, increased fear of contracting the
virus, fear of diminishing personal health and poor work-life balance. Understanding the COVID-19
factors causing nursing students’ stress is essential to developing healthy stress-coping strategies
and improving psychological wellbeing. Also, it will be helpful to reduce burnout and occupational
stress, enhance students’ morale to pursue a nursing career and reduce staff turnover and staff
shortage in NHS, especially during successive waves of COVID-19 or similar public health issues.
Preserving their health and wellbeing is important because today’s students are tomorrow’s vital
resources for the UK’s health system (Hamadi et al., 2021; Aslan and Pekince, 2020)
Specific research aims
Please state the specific aim(s) of your project. This specific research question will be
investigated in your project.
Aims and objectives
• To identify the factors that contributed to stress among nursing students during COVID-19.
• To lay a foundation to develop coping strategies, especially during successive waves of
COVID-19 or similar public health issues.
Research question
Did the COVID-19 pandemic increase the stress level and affect the psychological wellbeing of
university nursing students?
Methodology & research design
Describe and justify the methodology and research design you intend to use.
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Epistemological position: The researchers believe in positivism (deductive), a philosophical
construct which argues that truth is objective and can be found only through quantitative measures
(Gray and Grove, 2020).
Study setting: Buckinghamshire University (The UK).
Study design: Quantitative cross-sectional survey.
Sample population: The target population is student nurses at Bucks University. A population size
of 50 and a confidence interval of 95% (5% of margin of error) were used to determine the sample
size (n=45). The self-reported questionnaire will be distributed to these participants to assess their
wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reliability/Internal consistency: The tool was tested using SPSS V. 23. A Cronbach's Alpha score of
0.73 was found, which means satisfactory inter-item correlation (Gerrish and Lathlean, 2015).
Data analysis: The completed responses will be analysed using SPSS V. 23. The results will be
analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's r, cross-tabulation, Point-Biserial correlation, Pre
and Post analysis (Paired t-test) etc. The results will be presented using pie charts, graphs,
histograms and box plots.
Participants and Recruitment
***In addition to explaining how participants will be recruited, information in this
section is important for protecting the rights of participants.***
Participants
Describe who you are looking to recruit into the project and why. This should include
information on how many participants will be recruited and any criteria for inclusion /
exclusion.
Vulnerability
Are any vulnerable people allowed to take part in your study? Yes No
☐ ☐
If Answered YES:
▪ If vulnerable people are allowed to take part in this study, give details and please indicate any
necessary checks required by the researchers (e.g. Disclosure and Barring Service checks).
▪ Please refer to the Bucks New University Safeguarding Policy if required:
https://bucks.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/13132/Safeguarding-Under-18s-and-Adults-at-Risk-
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Policy.pdf
Data collection methods
Please check boxes for all data collection methods that you plan to use.
A Questionnaire/Survey ☐
B Semi-structured interviews ☐
C Unstructured interviews ☐
D Focus groups ☐
E Participant Observation ☐
F Non-Participant Observation ☐
G Quantitative Experiment ☐
H Analysis of pre-existing data from human participants (where this data is
sensitive or could be identifiable) ☐
I Other method - Please give details: ☐
Describe and justify the data collection methods you will use.
● Please provide specific details of proposed data collection methods. For example, how
interviews will be conducted, the type of questionnaire that will be used, etc.
Data collection: The study will utilise a self-reported questionnaire containing 16 questions.
Questions 1 to 3 are demographics questions. The remaining questions will be a 5-point Likert scale.
Ethical implications
Briefly outline any ethical implications of your research and how you propose to minimise
these risks
▪ Please note that it is not acceptable to simply state that there are no ethical implications
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