Cortisol dynamics in undergraduate nursing students during clinical practice: protocol for an exploratory cross-sectional study.

Introduction: This paper presents a protocol for the Investigation of Cortisol Dynamics in Undergraduate Nursing Students, a funded project aiming to understand the fluctuations in anxiety and salivary cortisol levels due to clinical setting changes and the anxiety associated with clinical practice.

Methods And Analysis: This study is an exploratory, cross-sectional, observational study that will be conducted at a health and science school in Portugal. Data collection will involve phycological assessment instruments for personality, anxiety, stress, depression and saliva cortisol levels.