Assessing positive and negative well-being among nursing students studying away from home: Validation of an Italian adaptation of the well-being scales

Background: Life at university poses socio-emotional challenges, particularly for students studying away from home. Only a few studies have explored the well-being of this population of students internationally, and no studies are available in Italy. Aim: To validate the positive and negative well-being scales in the Italian language and explore the wellbeing among Italian nursing students. Methods: A cross-sectional design. Nursing students from ten universities were enrolled and completed the positive and negative well-being scales from the Student Well-being Process Questionnaire. Results: 189 students were enrolled. The positive and negative well-being scales both showed a single factor, explaining 66.2% and 54.9% of the variance, respectively. Cronbach's alpha was 0.911 and 0.859, respectively. Well-being scores were of medium level. Female sex and financial difficulties correlated with lower positive well-being and higher negative well-being scores. Conclusions: The Italian positive and negative well-being scales exhibited strong psychometric properties. This study facilitates the precise identification of factors influencing student well-being, which could guide tailored interventions to enhance student experiences and outcomes across diverse educational environments.