The impact of social crises on nursing students’ mental health: a cross-sectional study

Background: The whole world is affected by twenty-first-century social crises. This study evaluated the impact of pandemics, poverty, migration, wars, and climate change on nursing students’ mental health. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study conducted among 1300 nursing students in Turkey. The data were collected using a personal information questionnaire, the General Health Questionnaire, and the Climate Change Worry Scale. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. Results: Almost half of the participants believed they would have living conditions similar to those of adults today. Participants had a mean General Health Questionnaire score of 3.8 ± 3.5, suggesting three in five participants were at risk of poor mental health (63.6%). The results showed that being a third-year student, having a moderate to high income, having authoritarian parents, having moderate or bad friendships, considering migrating abroad after graduation, being unhappy about the nursing profession, fearing poverty, and being concerned about climate change made participants more vulnerable to poor mental health. Current social crises have affected nursing students around the world. Conclusions: Nursing students are at high risk of experiencing poor mental health. There is a need to create an environment where nursing students can explain their anxiety and develop supportive interventions to manage their anxiety.