Stress and coping – Perceptions of final year nursing students returning to clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa

Background: The novel nature of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic places challenges on nursing students as they try to complete the clinical requirement of their training. Nursing faculties need to understand these challenges to support and equip nursing students to enter the workforce.Aim: To explore and describe the anticipated and subsequent perceptions of final year Bachelor of Nursing students returning to clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.Setting: The study was conducted at two universities in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Both universities offer 4-year Bachelor of Nursing programmes accredited by the South African Nursing Council and were in ‘hot spot areas’ for SARS-CoV-2.Methods: A qualitative study with focus groups discussions of final year undergraduate nursing students from both universities were conducted. Data were analysed through content analysis using Lazarus and Folkman’s Stress Appraisal Coping Model.Results: Five focus groups discussions with a total of 25 participants were conducted. Three themes with eight sub-themes emerged, the key themes being: primary appraisal and anticipation of returning to clinical practice; contextual influence on primary appraisal and reappraisal to facilitate positive return to clinical practice.Conclusion: Primary perceptions of returning to clinical practice revolved around uncertainty and stress. However, through preparation and the process of reappraisal, participants were able to adapt and cope with the challenges in returning to clinical practice during the pandemic.Contribution: It is important to recognise the role of faculty in supporting nursing students’ transition into situations of uncertainty such as the pandemic.

Development and Psychometric Properties of the Job Insecurity Appraisals Scale (JIAS-6)

This contribution introduces the Job Insecurity Appraisals Scale (JIAS-6), a tool that measures job insecurity primary appraisals (i.e., challenge and hindrance). Starting from the transactional theory of stress and extending previous unpublished versions of the same scale, the authors developed JIAS-6, using two samples of Italian workers ( N1 = 204 and N2 = 328). JIAS also addresses methodological and theoretical limitations of other primary appraisal scales. In Study 1, using a calibration sample, a series of confirmatory factorial analyses (CFAs) were performed and results showed that the final version of the scale fits the data well, while Study 2 findings (using a validation sample) replicated those obtained in Study 1 and provided support for strict measurement invariance across contract type, age, and gender, while scalar invariance was supported across job insecurity levels. Furthermore, we provided evidence of the relationship between job insecurity appraisals measured by JIAS-6 and other theoretically relevant constructs. The initial validation of JIAS-6 opens several new fruitful lines of research for job insecurity scholars.

Dementia Caregiving During the “Stay-at-Home” Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective The objective of this study was to assess family caregivers’ primary appraisal of stressors related to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, secondary appraisal of resources and support availability, and use of coping strategies as predictors of perceived role overload during the stay-at-home phase of the pandemic. Method Telephone interviews with 53 family caregivers of persons with dementia from rural Virginia 2 weeks after enactment of the governor’s stay-at-home order using structured and open-ended questions were conducted. Results Caregivers who were more concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic were at greater odds of experiencing high role overload than those who recognized positive aspects of the pandemic, as were those who received insufficient support from family and friends. Discussion Use of the transactional model of stress responses yielded important insights about families coping with dementia. Caregivers’ perceptions of the pandemic’s impact varied, with differential effects on their well-being.

Customer Acceptance of Use of Artificial Intelligence in Hospitality Services: An Indian Hospitality Sector Perspective

This research endeavour tested and validated the artificially intelligent device use acceptance (AIDUA) three-stage AI acceptance framework in the context of the Indian hospitality sector. For this purpose, data on the constructs that captured primary appraisal (i.e., social influence, hedonic motivation and anthropomorphism), secondary appraisal (i.e., performance and effort expectancy), emotion, willingness to use AI devices and objection to use AI devices were captured from 210 guests/customers from 14 luxury hotels spread across the union territory of New Delhi and the state of Chandigarh in India. Findings that emerge from this study validate the fact that customers do indeed go through three stages of decision-making process before they demonstrate their proclivity to use AI devices or exhibit objection to use AI devices. In particular, the study found that both performance and effort expectancy influenced customer emotion which, in its turn, exercised its effect on the construct of willingness to use AI devices and objection to use AI devices among hotel customers. Accordingly, drawing from the findings of this study, implications for practitioners, decision-makers, and academic researchers are discussed in the article.

Family Businesses and Digital Entrepreneurship Adoption: A Conceptual Model

Despite the prevalence of family businesses around the world, research on their contribution to the digital economy is still needed. A primary appraisal of the characteristics of the family business and the features of digital entrepreneurship suggests that the two phenomena are conflicting. Indeed, the most common descriptions of family businesses convey the idea that they favour stability to change and slow evolutions to upheavals and disruptions. This article attempts to answer the question: How could family businesses embrace the values and overcome the hindrances to digital entrepreneurship? To this end, this article suggests a conceptual model of digital entrepreneurship adoption in family firms. Based on the socioemotional wealth logic, we first describe the main variables influencing digital entrepreneurship adoption and then analyse the moderating influence of family involvement in the firm on the relationships between these variables and digital entrepreneurship adoption. Theoretical contributions and practical insights are presented.

Psychological Stress in Final Year Nursing Students: The role of clinical environment

Past studies have shown that nursing students are stressed. The purpose of this study is to examine the clinical environment factors associated with stress among final year nursing students by adapting the Transactional Stress and Coping Model (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). The cross-sectional study design was used, data were collected over two months in 2019. A self-administered questionnaire, used to collect data. 420 final year students recruited using a simple random sampling technique. Based on one-way ANOVA, there was a significant mean difference of primary appraisal score and secondary appraisal score. Resilience level was significantly associated with the level of stress. Keywords: nursing students, stress, resilience. eISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bsby e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI:

The Unifying Potential of an Appraisal Approach to the Experience of Group Victimization

This chapter offers appraisal theory as a unifying theoretical framework for understanding different ways in which collective victimization can be experienced. Events—such as collective victimization—are appraised and coped with continuously and dynamically, and people can appraise the events in different ways through active efforts at meaning-making that show the individual’s agency in shaping their experience. According to appraisal theory, the primary appraisal determines whether an aspect of collective victimization is deemed important enough to warrant further attention, and which one. Depending on which concerns related to collective victimization are perceived as relevant, in the secondary appraisal process different emotional responses to collective victimization can occur. To cope with this affect, a specific coping strategy is chosen. The choice of coping strategy depends on what is most likely to be effective for one’s concerns and goals, as well as the resources at the individual’s and group’s disposal.

Coping as a Mediation Mechanism Between Severity of Spectator Dysfunctional Behavior and Revisit Intention: The Moderating Effects of Self-Construal in Sport Consumption

The stress and coping theory posits that in the face of negative consumption situations, individuals experience a sequential process: primary appraisal, secondary appraisal, and behavioral outcomes. Drawing on the theory, the purpose of the study is to test (a) the mediating effects of coping strategies (i.e., secondary appraisal) between the severity of spectator dysfunctional behavior (SDB; i.e., primary appraisal) and revisit intention and (b) the moderating effects of self-construal (i.e., interdependence vs. independence). Across two studies, using a survey experiment (Study 1) and a repeated-measures survey experiment (Study 2), the findings indicate that coping strategies (i.e., active, expressive, and denial coping) significantly and uniquely mediated the relationship between the severity of SDB (high vs. low) and revisit intention. Furthermore, in responding to highly severe SDB, spectators with interdependent self-construal engaged more in active and expressive coping, and less in denial coping and revisit intention than those with independent self-construal. Overall, the present study highlights (a) the importance of coping strategies for a clearer understanding of the SDB–revisit intention relationship and (b) a boundary condition of self-construal for the influences of SDB on coping strategies and revisit intention.

Relationship between stress components in brazilian judo athletes

ABSTRACT Este estudo teve como objetivo descrever a relação entre os principais componentes do estresse em 93 atletas do judô masculino e feminino de nível competitivo. Os participantes preencheram quatro formulários: Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), o Brief COPE (referente às estratégias de coping), o Primary Appraisal Adjective Checklist (PAAC) e Wrestling Coping Resources Questionnaire (WCRQ). Os resultados mostraram uma relação positiva entre ameaça, dano e afeto negativo, bem como entre desafio, benefício e afeto positivo. Encontramos uma relação negativa entre avaliação cognitiva secundária e estratégias de recusa e desinvestimento comportamental. Este estudo confirmou a relação entre os componentes da teoria de Lazarus e Folkman.