This quantitative study used a cross-sectional descriptive survey to determine school leavers' perceptions of nursing as a career of choice and how those perceptions influence them in choosing or not choosing nursing as a career. A sample size of Grade 12 school leavers was (n=328). Respondents were invited to participate voluntarily In the study and were selected from 11 public schools from five regions in the Johannesburg district stratified random sampling was employed to select the participating public schools In order to determine the number of respondents per region while the school regions were used as strata. Simple random sampling was used to select participating schools with school names from the sampling frame printed on paper, separated and placed in each bowl representing each of the five regions. Schools were selected randomly from each bowl until the desired sample size was reached. Data was collected by using a 21-itern self-administered questionnaire with closed- and open-ended questions to elicit and describe the school leavers' perceptions of nursing as a career of choice and how those perceptions influence them in choosing or not choosing nursing as a career. Data was analysed through SPSS (Statistical Package for The Social Sciences) Version 13. Results of the study revealed that the perceptions held by school leavers are that nursing as a career of choice is amongst the least popular, less interesting and poorly appealing. This supports the hypothesis that nursing is rated poorly when compared to other career choices of school leavers. Interest in nursing as a career of choice could only be stimulated if the school leavers are given clear, accurate and continuous information on nursing to create awareness about nursing as a career of choice.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie är att studera blivande psykoterapeuters motiv att utbilda sig till psykoterapeuter och att undersöka om de angivna                      motiven skiljer sig åt beroende på grundutbildning och val av teoretisk inriktning på studierna. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av en enkät där deltagarna i undersökning fick svara på öppna frågor om motiv som fått dem att söka psykoterapeututbildningen samt gradera hur deltagarna stämde in i ett antal tänkbara motiv att välja att utbilda sig till psykoterapeut. Med en kvalitativ ansats och genom att företa en induktiv analys av resultatet kunde tretton temakategorier som motiverar att välja psykoterapeutyrket upptäckas; ökad kunskap, ökad kompetens och bättre behandlingsresultat, personligutveckling/personliga egenskaper, karriär/arbetslivssituation, autonomi, status/ekonomi, att komma vidare i en yrkesroll,legitimation/legitimitet, påverkan av en signifikant person eller litteratur,altruism, försvar och egna svårigheter, förväntade belöningar samt ökad tryggheti arbetet. Blivande psykoterapeuter med psykodynamisk eller relationell inriktning angav i större utsträckning motiv som kunde relateras inre konflikter och svåra erfarenheter i livet än vad dem med kognitiv                       beteendeterapeutisk inriktning gjorde.