Support Group Helps Nursing Student Moms

(NEWARK, N.J.) - Rutgers College of Nursing-Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) program has launched a support group for nursing student mothers to help them cope with the responsibilities of being a student while supporting a family.

The Mothers Support Group was started when several nursing students discussed the problems they faced as they juggle the responsibilities of being a mother, a student, and a working parent, said Deborah Walker-McCall, director of the College of Nursing-EOF program at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

We saw the toll it was taking on them and we decided to bring these mothers together to share successful strategies and offer them support, McCall said. In the future, we plan to offer workshops on stress management and how to successfully juggle multiple priorities.

McCall suggested her staff contact Pamela Heard, counseling psychologist in the Psychological and Counseling Services at Rutgers University-Newark. Heard had been trying to form a similar group on the Newark campus with limited success.

We have partnered with Psychological and Counseling Services to use their expertise and services to help us provide a supportive environment for our students, explained McCall.

This mix of 10 single and married mothers, with children two years and older, meet once a month with Lori Arvelo, College of Nursing-EOF counseling coordinator, and Heard.

One of the issues that concern these mothers is time management, said Arvelo. They are juggling a lot of things all at once. The rigorous nursing curriculum requires the students to put a lot of time into their studies, Arvelo said. The students feel guilty that they have to spend time away from their children for their studies.

These students experience stressful situations as they manage their roles as mother, parent, spouse, student, and employee. This group is a support base where they can learn from and lean on each other.

These women, who are mothers as well as students, are a resilient group and have a lot of personal strengths to manage a number of stressful situations in their lives, said Heard. It is helpful for them to be able to draw upon each others experiences in expanding their repertoire of coping skills and provide support for each other.

While this support group is made up of College of Nursing EOF students it is open to the general Rutgers community of mothers as long as the group does not grow too big, Arvelo said.

From its headquarters at Rutgers Newark, Rutgers College of Nursing offers a broad range of academic programs on all three Rutgers campuses. The college offers a masters program with unique practitioner specialties and the only doctoral (Ph.D) nursing degree in New Jersey.