The Occurrence of Occupational Health Risk and Associated Factors Among Thai Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Nursing students are exposed to health hazards during their clinical practice. This analytic cross-sectional study assessed such risks and the examined related factors in 219 nursing students. Participants were selected through cluster random sampling, and data were gathered via self-administered questionnaires that covered socio-demographic characteristics, occupational health literacy, support from teachers and healthcare personnel, clinical practice safety behaviors, and occupational health risks. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that psychosocial hazards were the most common risk (37.4%), followed by biological hazards (26.15%) and ergonomic factors (12.8%). Female gender (AOR = 4.15, 95% CI = 1.28-13.47), low clinical safety behaviors (AOR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.03-3.14), and low occupational health literacy (AOR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.13-5.74) were significantly associated with higher risks. This study highlights the need for targeted interventions to improve safety behaviors and occupational health literacy, emphasizing enhancements in training programs, support systems, personal protective equipment (PPE) adequacy, and ergonomic practices.