The purpose of the study was to examine selected aspects of the acquisition of a professional role and to determine what factors might be related to them. The sample consisted of 301 students in a school of nursing in a large general hospital in a Canadian metropolis. The four groups included entering, newly-capped, intermediate and near-graduating senior students. Data were collected by questionnaire. Two dependent variables were used: the student's professional self-image and the concept of the nurse's role adopted. Four components of the self-image were identified. It was hypothesized that, over time, students would think of themselves increasingly as nurses rather than as students; confidence in performing their role would increase; they would interact more socially with others in the institutional setting; and identification with graduate and student nurses would increase. The first three hypotheses were supported, the fourth was not. It was also hypothesized that, if all four components increased over time for the entire sample, they would also be related for individuals. For example, students who thought of themselves primarily as nurses would also be more confident, would interact more socially with others, and would identify more with other nurses. Statistical analyses using the Chi-square frequency test did not support this hypothesis. For the second dependent variable, the concept of the nurse's role adopted, two major concepts were identified: the advanced professional, emphasizing newer trends in the nursing profession, and traditional, favoring institutional values. It was hypothesized that beginning students would be more likely to give a higher rating than other groups to lay items, that newly-capped students would tend to rate highest those items which reflected the advanced professional concept, and that seniors would give higher ratings to traditional concepts. The trend found was opposite to that hypothesized. Students were asked to rate similar items with respect to Values, things which they believed it was important for nurses to do; Evaluation, criteria by which they believed they were evaluated; and Confidence, the degree to which the item made them feel confident as nurses. Advanced professional items were rated higher for Values than for the other two; traditional, lower. Individual students, however, were inconsistent in their ratings; no relationships were found among ratings on similar items for the three aspects. Other hypotheses suggested that various independent variables would be related to one or more elements of the two dependent-variables. Almost twenty independent variables were proposed. For example, it was hypothesized that students favoring advanced professional values would be more likely to select instructors as role models, and to rate classes such as Sociology, Psychology and Community Health high. None of the hypotheses was supported. The mass of negative findings can be interpreted so as to shed doubt upon some assumptions made by role theorists. Overall, although trends were discernible in the data when analyzed by groups, few relationships were found among attitudes expressed by individual students, who were consistently inconsistent. No factors were found which were related to the acceptance of items representing either an advanced professional or a traditional concept of the nurse's role. Because of the lack of significant relationships among items thought to be representative of each concept, it is probable that no such simple classification exists in the minds of students in the sample. The lack of relationship among elements of the self-concept also suggests that the notion of role as a unitary concept may not be valid. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This is a study on becoming and being a nurse. The nursing role involves role-anticipation, role-taking, role-playing and role-abandonment; it involves the moulding, by specific process, of an occupationally-undefined individual into a professional person. These processes, if successful, consist of a commitment to nursing norms by discipline, identification, and rites de passage. They are accompanied by increasing group unity, increasing adoption of institutional norms and a decreasing ability to play other roles and to identify with outsiders. Role-taking could also be seen in terms of distinct phases such as the theoretical phase, the practical phase, the phase of disillusionment and the phase of acceptance and routine. There is a change in attitudes between the first and the final phase. The role of the nurse can be clarified by the use of a method of occupational analysis. The five variables of the scheme are: images of the role, character of the obligations, rewards, strains and relation to others. The methods and techniques that were used for this study were questionnaire, guided and unguided interviews, and participant observation. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

The general concern of this thesis is with the professional status of nurses in the United States. Specifically, the focus is on the progression of nursing along the occupation continuum toward professionalism. The perspective of this study was adopted from Elliot A. Krause's discussion of "A Historical Perspective" in his "The Sociology of Professions." Krause maintains that an analysis of the past key periods of the history of an occupation can provide a basis for predicting what it will become in the future. The acceleration of change in all aspects of society, and particularly in the role of the nurse in the medical process, and her progression toward professionalism, prompted the study. It is accepted that nursing is an occupation, but there is no general consensus about its professional status. By following the progression of nursing from its earliest period when it emerged from a home-based art into an organized occupation with a specialized science, this study points out and analyzes the steps nursing made in its professionalization process. The criteria of a profession are used as the basis upon which the degree of progress is judged. The process of professionalization of nursing is shown to be very complex, fraught with many obstacles imposed by many factors. There are reasons to debate whether the occupation of nursing has yet reached the status of a profession, or if such achievement is even possible. The study also shows the direction nursing appears to be taking into the future, and the alternatives it can take. The study points out the importance of the professional versus the non-professional status, and the implications failure to attain professional status may have on nursing. The characteristics of nursing are presented in a broad macroscopic overview. Microscopic vignettes could be found which would refute any of the blanket statements made about nursing, but no attempt is made in this study to cover the minuscule exceptions. Data for the study were obtained from the literature dealing with the history, definitions and concepts of labor, professions, sociology, and nursing, as well as periodical professional publications.

M.Cur. (Nursing Science) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1981.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1981.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology: Nursing, Durban University of Technology, 2014. / Globally there is recognition of a health workforce crisis characterised by critical shortages, migration, and an uneven geographical distribution of health professionals. The Nursing Strategy for South Africa records that for many decades nursing has been a career of choice for South Africans from all sectors of society (Department of Health 2008: 11). That has changed as nursing has become less appealing to learners. This raises questions as to the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of learners towards the nursing profession. Aim of the study : The aim of the study was to determine factors influencing high school learners towards nursing as a career. Methodology : A descriptive cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative design was used to guide the study. The study was conducted in two high schools that were purposely sampled; the population comprised of high school learners from the two schools. Questionnaires were used to collect data from Grades 10 and 11. Life Orientation subject teachers were interviewed during data collection. Quantitative data was analysed by using SPSS. Qualitative data was analysed by using thematic analysis. Results : The findings of this study revealed that learners had inadequate knowledge of nursing. Interviews with teachers showed that this inadequate knowledge by learners could be associated with a lack of active involvement of the Department of Health in promoting nursing as a career.

No description available.

The problem of this study was an analysis of the differences between associate degree and baccalaureate degree nursing school graduates in relation to the functions they were currently performing, their perceptions of the adequacy of their educational preparation for these functions, and their apparent readiness for these nursing functions as reported by employers of nurses. A questionnaire was devised and mailed to a random sample of employers of nurses and to recent graduates of two associate degree and two baccalaureate degree nursing programs in Texas. Graduates were asked to report on the extent of their performance of each of eighty nursing activities as well as their perception of their preparation for each activity. Employers were requested to report the readiness of recent graduates to perform each nursing activity, The eighty activities were categorized into the following five functions: (1) physical care and technical skills, (2) interpersonal relationships, (3) leadership, (4) decision making, and (5) community health care.

M.Cur. (Professional Nursing Science) / Career planning of learner nurses, has been identified as an important tool to improve the retention of nurses in the health care system (Department of Health, 2008:12). First year learner nurses leave the nursing profession because they experience dissatisfaction in nursing as the career of choice. Miller and Marvin [ca 2008] state that career planning leads to greater ownership of work roles, taking initiative, and ongoing professional development. People involved in career planning are better collaborators, more likely to get along with their co-workers and supervisors, and more likely stay in and add value to the organization. Little has been done to improve career orientation of nurses, which has been identified as an important tool to improve nursing in the health care system (Department of Health, 2008:12). After six months of training, first year learner nurses starts to leave the nursing profession because they experience dissatisfaction in nursing as the career of choice. This problem is assigned to a lack of career orientation at nursing training colleges. It was unclear how first year learner nurses experience nursing as a career of choice, after having been exposed to the academic environment and nursing practice setting for six months in nursing. The central statement of the study was that learner nurses after entering nursing as a career of choice could be orientated on career planning that requires a career plan with guidelines or actions to be followed during their first year of nursing. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of first year learner nurses on nursing as a career of choice with the intention of describing guidelines on career planning for learner nurses at a nursing college in the Johannesburg Region. Purposive sampling was used and all (52) first year learner nurses who have been in training for more than six months at a nursing college were selected as a target population. .Interviewing by means of narrative story writing, in-depth individual unstructured questioning of the participants, focus group interviews was conducted until saturation of data was achieved.