Self-Care Practices in Nursing Education
Summary
Self-care in nursing education encompasses the strategies and pedagogical approaches designed to equip pre-registration nursing students with the knowledge and skills needed to maintain their own physical, mental and emotional well-being. Recognised as a professional obligation, self-care practice is underpinned by theories such as Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Theory and holistic models that stress the interdependence of body, mind and environment. Educational programmes employ a mix of reflective journaling, stress-reduction workshops, peer support groups and digital self-monitoring tools to foster resilience, empathy and clinical competence. Evidence indicates that systematic integration of self-care into curricula reduces learner stress, mitigates burnout and enhances academic performance and patient-care outcomes. Institutions worldwide face challenges in tailoring these interventions to diverse cultural contexts and resource levels, and there is growing interest in interprofessional collaboration and longitudinal assessment to ensure that self-care habits endure into professional practice.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Self-Care Practices in Nursing Education publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in self-care practices in nursing education across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Self-care: Deliberate activities individuals undertake to maintain and promote health and well-being.
Health-promoting lifestyle: A multidimensional pattern of behaviours—such as nutrition, exercise, stress management and spiritual growth—aimed at optimising quality of life.
Star Model of Knowledge Transformation: A framework guiding the conversion of research evidence into practice through stages of discovery, evidence summary, translation and evaluation.
Quality of life: An individual’s perceived physical, psychological and social well-being, often assessed using standardised questionnaires.
References
- Teaching accelerated nursing students’ self‐care: A pilot project. Nursing Open (2019).
- Health-promoting lifestyle and quality of life among Chinese nursing students. Primary Health Care Research & Development (2018).
- Self‐care neglect through the voices of nurses working in primary healthcare clinics in Gauteng, South Africa. Nursing Forum (2022).
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.