Quality of life and associated factors among Norwegian public health nurse students during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

PLoS One. 2023 Mar 16;18(3):e0282653. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282653. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the association between quality of life (QOL) and civil status, self-efficacy, loneliness, and physical and mental health among public health nurse (PHN) students during the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. PHN students were recruited from eight universities and university colleges in Norway. A range of potential predictive factors were entered into a model using a stepwise linear regression approach. In general, the PHN students reported a high level of QOL during the first month of the pandemic. The students' civil status, perceived physical health, self-efficacy and loneliness were all significantly correlated with QOL. Among these, the strongest predictive factors for QOL were found to be perceived loneliness and self-efficacy. Our results provide insight into the QOL of PHN students, which managers in the higher education sector can use to outline specific coping strategies that can help students during a pandemic.

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Humans
  • Norway / epidemiology
  • Nurses, Public Health*
  • Pandemics
  • Quality of Life
  • Students
  • Universities

Grants and funding

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.