The Relationship between Bullying in the Clinical Setting and Self-Esteem and Coping Strategies Used by Nursing Students

Bullying in nursing students is an important issue that can affect  self-esteem. People often use coping strategies in the face of negative situations. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between bullying in the clinical setting and self-esteem and coping strategies used by nursing students.

This cross-sectional analytical study was performed in 2019 on 193 nursing students who were selected by stratified random sampling. Data collection tools were valid and reliable questionnaires of bullying behaviors in the clinical setting of Clarke et al., Rosenberg self-esteem, and Lazarus and Folkman coping strategies. Data were analyzed using SPSS at 95% confidence level and Pearson correlation coefficient and Independent t test.

The results showed that bullying in the clinical setting had no statistically significant relationship with self-esteem. Bullying in the clinical setting had a positive and significant relationship with emotion-based coping strategy in general (P=0.041) but had no statistically significant relationship with problem-based coping strategy.

Nursing students mostly use emotion-based coping strategies to deal with bullying, so effective coping strategies against bullying behaviors should be taught to nursing students.