Mental health status of Chinese nursing students during night shifts in clinical placements: a cross-sectional analysis

TL;DR

Chinese nursing students working night shifts during clinical practice show worse mental health compared to national norms, with symptoms worsening as night shifts increase.

Contribution

This study is the first to assess the mental health impact of night shifts on Chinese nursing students during clinical placements.

Findings

Nursing students' SCL-90 scores were significantly higher than the Chinese national norm across all dimensions.

Frequent night shifts correlated with increased psychological symptoms in students.

Recommendations include optimizing shift schedules and monitoring mental wellbeing.

Abstract

Nursing students must complete the number of hours spent in clinical practice at various shift to bridge the gap between theory and practice. However, studies found that night shifts had significant impact on the mental health of nurses as they suffer from insufficient sleep and poor sleeping quality. There is, however, little is known about the mental health of undergraduate nursing students working night shifts during clinical practice.

This study assessed nursing students’ mental health during night-shift clinical practice and compared their outcomes to the Chinese national norm.

A cross-sectional study of 203 nursing students from three Shiyan hospitals completed the Symptom Check-list 90 (SCL-90) online questionnaire. The study was conducted in March 2024. Data were analyzed via SPSS 26.0 with descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, and Spearman correlation.

Students worked 1 to 2 night shifts weekly; their total mean SCL-90 score (2.10 ± 0.71) exceeded the national norm (1.44 ± 0.43), with significant differences across all SCL-90 dimensions (p < 0.05). Night-shift frequency correlated positively with psychological symptoms.

Nursing students on night shifts showed elevated SCL-90 scores across all dimensions. Nursing schools and hospitals should recognize this impact, develop interventions, optimize shift allocation, monitor mental wellbeing, provide enhanced preceptorship, and re-evaluate the necessity of night-shift clinical practice for competency development.