{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T05:24:47Z","timestamp":1787117087729,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787097600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Community health nursing (CHN) is central to primary healthcare delivery, but undergraduate nursing students may encounter educational, organizational, resource-related, and sociocultural barriers that affect their readiness for community-based practice. This study aimed to identify and quantify perceived barriers to CHN practice among nursing students in Saudi Arabia and to examine their relationships with self-reported educational preparedness and organizational support.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among nursing students enrolled in Saudi universities. A structured online questionnaire assessed perceived CHN practice barriers, educational preparedness, and organizational support. The instruments underwent cultural adaptation, forward-backward translation, expert-panel content validation, pilot testing, and internal-consistency assessment. Descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, correlation analyses, and exploratory multiple linear regression were used.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A total of 139 nursing students completed the survey. Participants reported minor-to-moderate overall barriers (\n                      <jats:italic>M<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f2.69, SD\u202f=\u202f0.96). Resource barriers were rated highest, with shortage of equipment (\n                      <jats:italic>M<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f2.93, SD\u202f=\u202f1.38) and lack of educational materials (\n                      <jats:italic>M<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f2.86, SD\u202f=\u202f1.32) identified as the most salient challenges. Educational preparedness (\n                      <jats:italic>M<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f3.25, SD\u202f=\u202f0.98) and organizational support (\n                      <jats:italic>M<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f3.46, SD\u202f=\u202f1.03) were rated moderately positive. Small-to-moderate positive correlations were observed between barriers and educational preparedness (\n                      <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.269,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.001) and between barriers and organizational support (\n                      <jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.242,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.004); these findings were interpreted cautiously as potentially reflecting awareness effects, conceptual overlap, or shared-method variance. The multivariable regression model was not statistically significant and explained a small proportion of variance (\n                      <jats:italic>R<\/jats:italic>\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.089,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.052).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Nursing students in Saudi Arabia perceived meaningful, though not severe, barriers to effective CHN practice, with resource limitations and skills gaps as primary concerns. The findings support strengthened curriculum-practice integration, expanded simulation and community-immersion experiences, improved placement resources, and targeted faculty development aligned with healthcare transformation priorities.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1870370","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T04:35:19Z","timestamp":1787114119000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Barriers to effective community health nursing: a quantitative analysis of challenges faced by nursing students in Saudi Arabia"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Bandar","family":"Alhumaidi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Health Nursing, College of Nursing, Taibah University","place":["Medina, Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"Nursing and Midwifery. 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