The role of social support in managing stress during clinical learning in nursing students

There is obvious need to have the safest working environments and the best quality of health care delivery for patients by nursing students on clinical practice/learning. Effective social support is one of the very important steps in achieving his goal. This paper identifies the majorsocial support required for managing stress in nursing students during clinical learning and the most effective management and coping strategies as contained in literature. The paper employed a qualitative method involving a review of secondary data and the application of content analysis. The Transactional Model of Stress and Coping by Lazarus and Folkman formed the theoretical framework for this study. Findings from this study indicated that a combination of physical factors, administrative and organisational malfunction, psychological factors and interpersonal conflict are the major sources of stress for nursing students during clinical practice. On the other hand, the best management and coping strategies for nursing students involves combination of personal coping skills, effective organisational plans and social support.