An Exploration of Homesickness among Student Nurses

Clinical experience of the author and literature reports suggest that homesickness can be an important factor in adjustment difficulties among student nurses. Following previous studies of residential relocation, homesickness is conceptualised as a grief reaction. It is suggested that attempts to maintain attachment to home and family will also be involved. A scale of ‘homesickness symptoms’ based on this conceptualisation was developed and administered to 185 student nurses, 85 after 4 months of training and 100 after 10 months. Results supported the view that homesickness is a state involving both grief behaviour and attachment behaviour. Recency of separation increased the likelihood of reporting many symptoms. The numbers reporting large numbers of symptoms declined after the first 6 weeks but remained steady at 40–50% thereafter. Students with easier access to their homes were not less likely to report many symptoms initially, but were more likely to report fewer symptoms after the first 6 weeks. Some findings of a more intensive interview study of studnets, some of whom appeared never to have been homesick, some to have recovered, and some to have continued being homesick, are described. Finally, the therapeutic implications of the results are discussed and the potential of further research for elucidation of attachment behaviour in young adults and of maturation to self-reliance is suggested.