Perceived acculturative stress and sense of coherence in Chinese nursing students in Australia

SummaryUniversity schools of nursing in Australia are the main providers of nursing education programmes for international students. The large cohort of overseas students requires that universities, as education providers, understand their needs and the problems related to studying and living in Australia. An exploratory descriptive quantitative study was conducted to investigate 119 Chinese international undergraduate nursing students' acculturative stress and sense of coherence at an Australian university in Sydney. Two validated scales were used: Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS) and Sense of Coherence (SOC). Results indicated that overall Chinese nursing students had a moderate level of acculturative stress and sense of coherence. However, there was a significant difference in the level of acculturative stress among three groups of Chinese nursing students enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing course, and SOC was negatively correlated with the level of acculturative stress. This study extends the knowledge of the experiences of Chinese nursing students studying and living in an English-speaking country. The study also highlights the need for universities to provide relevant support to overseas students to make their study journey smoother and more successful.