Özet:

OBJECTIVE: Nurses have important roles in determining the health needs of individuals and society, planning and implementing the care. At the undergraduate level, education for problem solving improves coping skills, and integrated education based on assertivity-training, social skills-training improves the problem solving skills. Therefore, it is cruical to assess the problem solving skills and internal-extrenal locus of control, which affect the problem solving skills, for developing a curriculum for nursing undergraduate programs focused on promoting these skills. It is a decriptive study which is planned to assess the problem solving skills and internal-extrenal locus of control of nursing students. METHODS: The sample of the study consisted of 283 nursing students who were willing to participate in the study. The permissions were obtained from the school administrations and students gave verbal informed consent to participate in the study. The students’ problem solving skills were assessed using Problem Solving Inventory, internalextrenal locus of control with Rotter’s Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, personal characteristics were obtained using Student Information Form. The data were analysed using SPSS 11.5 for Windows statistical program. RESULTS: The problem solving skills of nursing students are moderate, internal locus of control is high. There were statistically significant differences in problem solving skills in regard to variables such as marital status, the type of graduated high school, the income level and the students’ perception of their success during high school. There were also statistically significant differences in internal-external locus of control in regard to the students’ perception of their recent health status, the perception about the relationships with their family and friends. Since the high internal locus of control may affect the problem solving skills, it is important to develop a curriculum and strategies which aim to improve the undergraduate nursing students’ problem solving skills and internal locus of control.

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