The Relationship Between Nursing Students\u27 Locus of Control and Potentially Stressful Situations in the Clinical Area

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a meaningful relationship between a student\u27s locus of control and the student\u27s identification of potentially stressful situations in the clinical area. Senior nursing students were asked to complete a demographic data section, the Rotter Internal-External Scale, and a Stressful Clinical Situation Questionnaire. Those students scoring zero to six on the Rotter Scale were highly internal and those students scoring eighteen to twenty-three on the Rotter Scale were highly external. Students found to be either highly internal 4 or highly external were the subjects used to determine if students found to be internal on the Rotter Scale identify different potentially stressful situations than students found to be external on the Rotter Scale. The hypothesis, students who score internally on the Rotter Internal-External Scale will identify different potentially stressful situations in the clinical area than do students who score externally on the scale, was not supported. However, some students who scored internally on the scale did identify themselves as a major factor in the stress they experienced. On the other hand, those students who scored externally on the scale identified something outside of themselves as a major factor in the stress they experienced