The effect of problem solving course on student's stress intolerance

Nurses should have enough skills to solve patient's problems in complex clinical situations. In addition, they should acquire stress intolerance skills to enable them to deal with problems in hard situations. This study was performed to assess the effect of problem solving course on Shiraz student's stress intolerance. This quasi-experimental study (with pre-test & post-test design) was performed on 43 graduate nursing students in Shiraz city. Students were asked to fill "demographic questionnaire" and "Bar_On emotional quotient inventory" (to determine stress intolerance level and then the participants were randomly divided into two groups of experimental (with 20 students) and control group (with 23 students). Then, based on Dzurilla & Goldfride social problem solving method, a short problem solving course was performed for the experimental group. Finally, stress intolerance levels were measured at 3 different stages of assessment (pre, immediately & 2 month after the performance of interventional program), in the two groups. Problem solving course positively affected the student's stress intolerance level immediately after the program (P<0.01). The same results were observed 2 months after the intervention (P<0.01). In general, problem solving course has positive effect on improvement of stress intolerance levels in nursing students. Therefore, it is recommended that same courses be added to the educational program of nursing students.