Minds matter: Gaps in the psychosocial support of advanced practice nursing students.

BACKGROUND: Advanced Practice Nursing students (APRN students) face many stressors personally, professionally, and academically while pursuing a graduate nursing degree. These negative events result in greater than 50% of the students considering withdrawing from the program. Despite the growing global demand for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), this student population remains among the least studied. PURPOSE: The author aimed to discover strategies to support the self-care, well-being, and resilience of graduate nursing students to increase academic retention. METHODS: The author completed literature searches on PubMed and CINAHL using search terms graduate nursing students, mental health, well-being, curriculum, faculty, preceptors, and retention. The search resulted in 284 possible records. Twelve articles and three websites were chosen for evaluation utilizing PRISMA guidelines. RESULTS: APRN students exhibit multiple mental health concerns which have not been well researched or addressed. University assistance and resources are needed to support the mental health, resilience, and self-care of APRN students to increase graduation rates. CONCLUSIONS: University resources and interventions integrated into the graduate nursing educational program to mitigate the high stress, anxiety, and depression levels in APRN students can decrease attrition rates, increase retention and graduation rates, prevent professional burnout, and contribute to high quality patient care through well-supported, competent, and thriving healthcare providers.