Stressors During Clinical Nursing Internships: A Descriptive Analysis with a Gender Perspective

Abstract

This study describes and compares the stressors perceived during clinical internships by 30 students in the Advanced Nursing Technology program at a Higher Technological Institute, incorporating a gender perspective. Based on a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional design with a descriptive-comparative approach, the KEZKAK questionnaire (Spanish version / 41 items, 9 dimensions) was administered, with an internal consistency of α = 0.965. The results show that 76.7% of the participants reported moderate or high stress (overall M = 1.49, SD = 0.63). Contrary to what has been reported in the region, the dimension with the highest score was not “lack of competence” but “the patient seeks an intimate relationship” (D8/ M= 1.95), followed by work overload, helplessness, and uncertainty. Female participants outperformed male participants in all nine dimensions, with large effect sizes in D8 (d = 0.88) and D4 (d = 0.87), although statistical significance was not observed, likely due to the small size of the male subgroup (n = 6). 26.7% of the female students considered dropping out of the program. It is concluded that the profile of stressors in the ISTCGE program calls for the design of differentiated pedagogical interventions and the incorporation into the curriculum of modules on managing professional boundaries and personal integrity in clinical settings.