Int J Nurs Educ Scholarsh. 2021 Dec 28;18(1). doi: 10.1515/ijnes-2021-0013.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To determine the adverse childhood experience scores (ACES) of nursing students in the United States.
METHODS: Utilized the standardized Family Health History Questionnaire to determine the ACES of a national sample of nursing students. Simple descriptive statistics were used to analyze the findings.
RESULTS: Nursing students ACES indicate that they enter academia with a much higher baseline of childhood trauma versus the general population. Over 40% of nursing students surveyed had an ACES of 4 or more versus the national average of 12.5-13.3% of the general population having an ACES of 4 or more.
CONCLUSIONS: This data provides support for Conti-O’Hare’s theory of nurses as wounded healer. Nursing faculty should consider nursing students to be members of a vulnerable population and revise curricula to support nursing students stress resileince.
PMID:34963206 | DOI:10.1515/ijnes-2021-0013
