Publication date: Jun 01, 2025

Australian Universities are the principal providers of nurse education for international students. While researchers have recognised the important issue of poor psychological well-being among nursing students, few have explored the factors which impact international nursing students. This review aimed to map the reported factors impacting psychological health, wellness and early help-seeking behaviours of international students enrolled in Bachelor of Nursing programmes. A scoping review with a five-stage methodological framework to interpret and synthesise the available literature was utilised. The following databases were searched: CINAHL Complete, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, ERIC and Scopus for studies published in English from 2012 to 2022. Additional sources were also sought through a review of the references of included studies. Four studies met the inclusion criteria. Results revealed that all included studies were from Australia and utilised a quantitative approach. Factors impacting psychological health and wellbeing, as well as help-seeking behaviours included but were not limited to migrating alone, language spoken, marginalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic. Published literature on this topic is limited, with a notable absence from other countries. This review highlights a gap in evidence concerning ways to support international nursing students. There were no patient or public contributions in the design, conduct, analysis or preparation of this manuscript.

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