BIP course: Self-care approaches – nursing student wellbeing

Faculty of Health and Welfare - Degree Program in Nursing 

Credits: 3 ECTS

Coordinating and Receiving Institution: Novia University of Applied Sciences (Finland)

Please note: this course is open only to nominated students from our partner institutions.

Virtual Component

Virtual Component Timing: Monday January 26th, 2026, 12-13.30 o'clock, Finnish time (a Zoom-link will be sent to the participants before the meeting). 
Virtual Component Description: Short presentation of the course and the participants, course aims and expected learning outcomes. A pre-task will also be presented. 

Physical Component

Start day: Monday March 9th,2026 
End date: Friday March 13th,2026  
Campus Location: Novia UAS Vaasa Campus Alere, Wolffintie 31, 65200 Vaasa, Finland 
Active participation is expected from all students throughout the entire week. 

Objectives

The course aims to strengthen the knowledge and understanding of students about the concept of self-care strategies to enhance health and wellbeing of nursing students during their studies. By focusing on practical self-care approaches, the course will equip participants with the skills needed to manage stress, improve mental health, and maintain a balanced lifestyle. 
 
Additionally, the course will explore the implementation potentials of these strategies within interdisciplinary teams, fostering collaboration and holistic care approaches among future healthcare professionals. 

Learning outcomes 
  • After completing the course, the students will be able to:  
  • Recognize self-care as a part of nursing and other health care providers responsibility. 
  • Identifying the factors that can affect student’s well-being during their studies. 
  • Practice various self help techniques tailored to their individual needs, enhancing their ability to manage stress, improve health, and maintain overall well-being. 
  • Be able to take part in discussions about dilemmas related to self-care and compassion fatigue.  
  • Preliminary Content (subject to updates during the course): 
  • Physical approach to self-care   
  • Social approach to self-care 
  • Emotional approach to self-care 
  • Spiritual approach to self-care 
  • Nutritional approach to self-care 
  • Environmental approach to self-care 
Detailed information

Please click (+) to expand the text. 

Travelling to Vaasa

Please plan to arrive on Sunday, March 8th, at the latest, and depart earliest on Saturday, March 14th 

Tip: Compare flight prices from your city to Vaasa (with a transfer in Helsinki or Stockholm) against flying to Helsinki and then taking a train or bus to Vaasa. Flights to Vaasa can sometimes cost the same—or even less—than the train fare from Helsinki, and they cut travel time from four hours to just one. 
However, if you prefer a more environmentally friendly option, the scenic train ride from Helsinki is a great choice. 

Accommodation

  • Accommodation has been reserved for all course participants in the center of Vasa through AinaBnB. The total cost for the accommodation is €275,10, including breakfast, covering the stay from Sunday, 8 March 2026, to check-out on Saturday, 14 March 2026 (7 nights).
  • Any accommodation-related requests or special wishes should be sent directly to AinaBnB. 

Cancellation  

  • Studentss may cancel their reservation free of charge until 1 March 2026 at 23:59 (Finnish time).
  • If students cancel after this date, they’ll need to pay the full booking amount.
  • In case of a no-show without prior cancellation student'll be charged the full amount. 

Prepayment  

  • Payment must be made no later than 1 March 2026 at 23:59 (Finnish time).
  • Students will receive an invoice directly from the AinaBnB after they have submitted their application and been accepted to the course. 
  • If payment is not received by the due date, the booking will be considered cancelled. 

Nomination and Application

Our partner universities are requested to send the nomination by email to our international coordinator. 
The nomination should include the student's family name, given name, gender, date of birth, and email address.  
After the student has been nominated we will register the person in the online mobility programme SoleMove and s/he will get an email with a link to the programme and a user name and password.  
Deadline for nomination and application is December 19th, 2025.  
Please note that we only accept students nominated by our partners. Nominations from the students themselves are not valid.  
 

Recommended Literature

Bell T, Sprajcer M, Flenady T, Sahay A. Fatigue in nurses and medication administration errors: A scoping review. J Clin Nurs. 2023 Sep;32(17-18):5445-5460. doi: 10.1111/jocn.16620. Epub 2023 Jan 27. PMID: 36707921. 
American Holistic Nurses Association. Holistic nursing. https://www.ahna.org/About-Us/What-is-Holistic-Nursing (accessed October 5, 2024). 
Cummins A.M., Wight, R., Watts, N. & Christine Catling, C. (2018). Introducing sensitive issues and self-care strategies to first year midwifery students. Midwifery Volume 61, June, 8-14 
Frisch, N. (2001). "Standards for Holistic Nursing Practice: A Way to Think About Our Care That Includes Complementary and Alternative Modalities". Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Vol. 6 No. 2, Manuscript 4. 
Delaney C, Bark L. The Experience of Holistic Nurse Coaching for Patients With Chronic Conditions. J Holist Nurs. 2019 Sep;37(3):225-237. doi: 10.1177/0898010119837109. Epub 2019 Mar 29. PMID: 30924707. 
Drew BL, Motter T, Ross R, Goliat LM, Sharpnack PA, Govoni AL, Bozeman MC, Rababah J. (2016). Care for the Caregiver: Evaluation of Mind-Body Self-Care for Accelerated Nursing Students. Holist Nurs Pract;30(3):148-54. doi: 10.1097/HNP.0000000000000140 
Evans, R., Hawley-Bernardez, A. & Gibbons, G. (2024). Strengths Perspective: How Social Work Students Use Minfulness as a Self_Care strategy. Social Sciences, 13, 210. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13040210 
Frögéli, E., Djordjevic, A., Rudman, A., Livheim, F., & Gustavsson, P. (2016). A randomized controlled pilot trial of acceptance and commitment training (ACT) for preventing stress-related ill health among future nurses. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 29(2), 202–218. https://doi-org.ezproxy.novia.fi/10.1080/10615806.2015.1025765 
Gunnarsdotties, T,J., Henriksen, J., Löfmark, A., Slettebø, Å., Levy-Malmberg, R. (2022) Customising clinical studies for the new nursing generation. Nordic Journal of Nursing Research;42(1):3-6. doi:10.1177/20571585211018353 
Jenkins, E.K., Slemon, A., O'Flynn-Magee, K.& Mahy, J. (2019). Exploring the implications of a self-care assignment to foster undergraduate nursing student mental health: Findings from a survey research study. Nurse Education Today 81,13–18. 
Lava, S. & Naama-Ghanayim, E. (2020). Why care about caring? Linking teachers’ caring and sense of meaning at work with students’ self-esteem, well-being, and school engagement. Teaching and Teacher Education Volume 91, May 2020, 103046 doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103046 
Lene E., Søvold, L.E.,  Naslund J.A.,Kousoulis A.A., Saxena S.,Qoronfleh M.W., Grobler C., Münter L. (2021) Prioritizing the Mental Health and Well-Being of Healthcare Workers: An 
Urgent Global Public Health Priority Front Public Health, 1 May 2021 | Volume 9 doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.679397 
Linton, M., & Koonmen, J. (2020). Self-care as an ethical obligation for nurses. Nursing Ethics, 27(8), 1694–1702. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020940371 
Ngugi GaI O. Understanding holistic nursing practice. Arcada. 2015:5281–2. 
Sawyer H. (2023) Mindfulness: Strategies to implement targeted self-care./ Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice, Vol.31 doi: 10.1016/j.xjep.2023.100614  
Schoon PM., Krumwiede K. (2022). A holistic health determinants model for public health nursing education and practice. Public Health Nursing 39(5): 1070-1077.  
Scullion R., Icke K., TissenDiabate T., Adam D.,Ortiz M., Witt C.M., Brinkhaus B., Stockigt B. (2023)  Self-care strategies for medical students: an uncontrolled mixed-methods evaluation of a mind-body-medicine group course/ BMC Med Educ. 2023 Oct 31;23:816. doi: 10.1186/s12909-023-04745-9  
Slemon, A., Jenkins, E.K. & Bailey, E. (2021). Enhancing conceptual clarity of self-care for nursing students: A scoping review. Nurse Education in Practice 55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103178 
Ventegodt S, Kandel I, Ervin DA. J. M. Concepts of holistic care. Health care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the lifespan. 2016:1935-41. 
Wei, H., Roberts, P., Strickler, J., & Corbett, R. W. (2019). Nurse leaders’ strategies to foster nurse resilience. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(4), 681–687. https://doi-org.ezproxy.novia.fi/10.1111/jonm.12736 

Academic contact persons:

Rika Levy-Malmberg

Senior Lecturer

Rika.Levy-Malmberg@novia.fi
+358 44 780 5377
Administrative contact person:

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