ABSTRACT

Objective:

It can be said that the level of knowledge about health/disease concepts is one of the factors determining individual health perception and health concern. Health perception and anxiety can also be an important factor in the willingness of the individual to receive health care services. For this reason, this research was carried out as descriptive study to determine the health perception, health anxiety and the affecting factors among nursing students.

Method:

The research was carried out on 56 students who were educated in the 2nd year of Nursing Department of Health Sciences Faculty of Ondokuz Mayıs University between September 2015 and February 2016. The data were collected with a 12-items sociodemographic data form, the Health Perception Scale and the Health Anxiety Scale. The analysis of the data was performed by SPSS 21 statistical program. Mean and percentage values calculated and t test, variance analysis and correlation analysis performed.

Results:

Total 92.9% of the students were in the 17-21 age group, 60.7% were graduated from Anatolian High School.The 44.6% of student had primary school graduated mothers, 41.1% of them fathers, 80.4% of them have housewife mothers and 30.4% of them have unskilled worker fathers. The mean score of the health perception scale of the students was determined as 50.57±4.60. When the mean scores of the health perception scale sub-dimensions were examined, the control center subscale had highest mean score as 17.37±2.87 and followed by 11.75±2.24 precision, 10.73±1.95 health and 10.48±1.89 with self awareness sub-dimensions respectively. Student’s health anxiety scale score means were determined as 34.33±6.50.

Conclusion:

It has been determined that the average scores of health perception and health anxiety of students are moderate.