Nursing students and disgust emotion

Disgust is an emotional response to a real or perceived disgusting situation. This emotion is present at all levels of human life, both individual and societal. Disgust could be involved in a wide range of psychopathology such as anxiety. Likewise, disgust influence negatively the motivation. It is an emotion commonly experienced by health professionals and nursing students.The synonyms of disgust and nursing students were identified, and then research has been conducted using, Boolean operators such as Disgust or Revulsion AND Nursing Students OR Pupil Nurses. The databases consulted were: Pubmed, Google scholar, Scopus, Science Direct, Web of science. The selected articles were full-text manuscripts written in English and French, and each contained keywords related to the study in their title or abstract.Nursing students experienced disgust during their training. Some students said that it is inappropriate to express this emotion to keep the patient’s trust. Disgust sensitivity can influence the choice of professional careers. A negative correlation was reported between disgust sensitivity and care behaviors such as accessibility, anticipation, and trust. Nursing students suggest avoiding the use of the word "disgust" and instead using other terms such as "difficult", and "challenge". In addition, students said that with time and exposure, many potential disgust inducers lose their effects and become habitual. Other measures were noted like the use of protective equipment. It was also reported that training staff could help students overcome difficult situations. Indeed, awareness of the importance of supporting students during training and assessing their disgust sensitivity is an essential stage to manage this emotion.According to the consulted articles, nursing students may experience disgust. Therefore, it is necessary to support them in both clinical and academic settings. It is also important to assess their sensitivity to disgust and help them to identify and to manage their emotions. In light of the lack of studies on disgust among nursing students, future research will enhance this field.