Family Support and Academic Self-efficacy as Determinants of Post Preliminary Training School Psychological Wellbeing among Nursing Candidates

Abstract

This study examined family support, academic self-efficacy and personality as determinants of post preliminary training school (PTS) psychological wellbeing among nursing candidates. Participants were one hundred and twenty nine (129) PTS students of School of Nursing Nkpor Anambra State selected through purposive sampling whose ages ranged from 17 years to 26 years with a mean age of 19.5yrs and a standard deviation of 1.20.  Four instruments were adopted for the study -Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Academic Self-efficacy Scale, Ryff’s Psychological Well-being scale and Big Five Personality inventory. Non-randomized pretest posttest design was used as design for the study whereas 3-Way ANOVA was used as statistical tool to analyze data. The resulted indicated that there is a significant difference in the psychological wellbeing of admitted and non-admitted PTS students of Nursing school Nkpor before and after PTS examinations at F(1, 128) = 79.4, p < .05 and that the psychological wellbeing of non-admitted PTS students of Nursing school Nkpor with perceived high family support significantly differed from their counterparts with perceived low family support after PTS examination at F(1, 128) = 39, p < .05. Also the result revealed that the psychological wellbeing of non-admitted PTS students of Nursing school Nkpor with perceived high academic self-efficacy significantly differed from their counterparts with perceived low academic self-efficacy after PTS examination at F(1, 128) = 122, p < .05 while the psychological wellbeing of non-admitted PTS students of Nursing school Nkpor differed across the personality types with conscientious personality  having more balanced psychological well-being than  their counterparts at F(1, 128) = 31.8, p < .05. It is recommended that the Nursing design programs aimed that enhancing the psychological wellbeing of students before, during and after the exams.