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Managing Fear Associated with Nursing in Urban Environments
Author(s) -
Hayes Evelyn R.,
Carter Shirley V.,
Carroll Mary C.,
Morin Karen H.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
public health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1525-1446
pISSN - 0737-1209
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-1446.1996.tb00225.x
Subject(s) - conceptualization , scale (ratio) , interdependence , nursing , psychology , session (web analytics) , applied psychology , medicine , sociology , computer science , social science , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , world wide web
Improvement of the health of the nation demands that we prepare nurses to deliver care to those within our urban settings. Yet students frequently are uncomfortable visiting clients in urban settings. Our initial efforts were to refine the Environmental Comfort Scale (Carter, Carroll, & Hayes, 1994), an instrument developed to measure comfort levels in various urban scenarios. This article reports the results of this instrument refinement as well as the inductive process leading to the initial conceptualization of a model that addresses threats to safety. These threats, in turn, generate fear of nursing in community‐based settings. The study participants were 120 volunteer junior students in a baccalaureate nursing program. The Environmental Comfort Scale II was administered to students at the beginning of an orientation session prior to their initial clinical nursing course. The instrument consisted of 15 items: 3 demographic items, 11 items asking students to rate their level of comfort and of fear in relation to various urban situations, and 1 open‐ended question. Analysis of data led to conceptualization of two factors that could influence comfort levels in the urban environment. The first factor was personal‐emotional (affective) and the second factor was cognitive (objective). The interaction and interdependency of these two factors led to the creation of a model.