Well-being among Nursing Students: Relationship between Lifestyle Behaviours, Sleep Quality and Resilience

Abstract

Well-being is considered a positive state influenced by one’s mental, physical, emotional and cultural factors. High-level well-being enables a person to live at full potential. In this study, we investigated the level of well-being and its associated factors among nursing students studying at a selected university in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. A quantitative descriptive study was conducted among undergraduate nursing students enrolled in this university. A convenient sampling technique was used to recruit the participants. Measures included the WHO-5 well-being index, a lifestyle behaviour questionnaire, the Pittsburgh sleep quality index and a brief resilience scale. Nearly two-thirds (65.4%) of the study participants reported good well-being, whereas the remaining 34.6% reported low well-being. In general, better well-being was found to be associated with moderate or vigorous physical activity for at least 30 minutes three or more times a week (p < 0.05), and a habit of skipping breakfast (p < 0.05). It was also found to be associated with better subjective sleep quality (p < 0.001), less sleep latency (p < 0.01), fewer sleep disturbances (p < 0.001), and less daytime dysfunction (p < 0.001). These results support the need to improve the well-being of nursing students. We recommend interventions that promote physical activity and sleep quality to improve the well-being of undergraduate nursing students.