Evaluation of a Digital Programme for Final Year Nursing Students During COVID-19

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate a digital programme aimed to address COVID-19 related anxiety of final year undergraduate student nurses on returning to the clinical facilities during the pandemic in South Africa.Background: In South Africa, concern about the physical and psychological safety of nursing students resulted in the planning of a psychological first aid program to ensure the safe return of nursing students to clinical facilities.Design: A quantitative evaluation study was conducted in September 2020 following the August 2020 return of final year nursing students to clinical facilities.Methods: All final year nursing students were invited to participate in the study (N=196). An online survey was circulated via WhatsApp asking respondents to rate their anxiety and fear of COVID-19 before and after return to practice. Related pair analysis was done on the main outcome measures of anxiety, COVID-19 fears and concerns using paired T-Tests and Wilcoxon-ranked Tests.Results: After the programme, the respondents reported a significant reduction in anxiety (T=2.95, p=.004) and a significant reduction in COVID fear (T.3.1, p=.002), specifically related to infecting family, being exposed to COVID-19 at work, propagating infection at work and lacking access to COVID-19 information and communication.Conclusion: The implementation of a dedicated digital programme, underpinned by a sound theory base of psychological first aid, was effective in preparing nursing students for clinical practice in the pandemic.