Effects of Structured Group Counseling on Anger Management Skills of Nursing Students.

BACKGROUND: Anger management is an important skill for nurses to prevent conflicts in the health care environment. Efforts, beginning with nursing education, are required to improve this skill and evaluate the effects. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a structured counseling program on improving the anger management skills of nursing students.

METHOD: The study had an experimental design with pre- and posttests. Twenty-six undergraduate nursing students who were randomly assigned to the groups participated. The authors conducted eight counseling sessions with the experiment group and no intervention with the control group. Data were collected using the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory.

RESULTS: The counseling group had higher anger control and repression scores and lower trait anger scores after the counseling, compared with the control group.

CONCLUSION: This counseling improved the students' anger management skills. Therefore, such programs should be integrated into the services provided for nursing students. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(3):174-181.].