The primary purpose of the study was to identify liberal education skills necessary for competent, professional nursing practice and to compare baccalaureate and associate degree faculties' perceptions of the importance of liberal education skills and program emphasis on those skills. Further, the study sought to identify underlying factors of liberal education skills perceived by college nursing faculty to be required for competent, professional nursing practice. Finally, the study attempted to identify differences in baccalaureate and associate degree faculties' perceptions of the importance of liberal education skills and program emphasis place on those skills by public and private institutional membership and by National League for Nursing (NLN) geographic accrediting region assignment. The study's survey approach could be classified as a quasi-experimental design. The study utilized a multistage, stratified sample of 432 baccalaureate and associate degree nursing faculty. Seventy-two baccalaureate and 72 associate degree nursing programs were randomly selected from the four NLN geographic regions. Each dean or director of selected programs was requested to select three nursing faculty "most knowledgeable of the nursing curriculum" to complete the instrument. Data for the study were collected by means of the "Liberal Education Skills Inventory for Nursing" (LESIN). Data analysis was accomplished through the use of descriptive statistics, principal factors analysis, and analysis of variance. Major conclusions of the study were (1) nine of the ten LESIN subscales had mean faculty ratings suggesting high skill importance to competent, professional nursing practice; (2) one factor ("conceptual abilities") underlying faculty perceptions of liberal education skills importance was extracted; (3) there were statistically significant differences in baccalaureate and associate degree faculties' perceptions regarding skills importance on two of the LESIN subscales and regarding program emphasis on five of the subscales; (4) on each of the ten LESIN subscales, faculty from public and private institutions did not differ significantly on their perceptions of skills importance and did differ significantly on one subscale regarding program emphasis; and (5) the mean skill importance and program emphasis responses of faculty did not differ significantly on the ten LESIN subscales by NLN geographic accrediting region assignment. In addition, information regarding liberal education skills program evaluation measures or standards was reported.

The purpose of this study was to produce functional criteria that could be used for the initial selection, reappointment and promotion of faculty in baccalaureate schools of nursing. The establishment of the criteria was derived from a tentative criteria that was developed from seventeen research questions. The review of nursing and related literature was conducted to focus on and to justify the tentative criteria. It was presented under the following categories: faculty selection, reappointment and promotion; academic preparation of nurse faculty; nursing research; and continuing education in nursing. The data indicated that a master's degree in a clinical nursing specialty is the minimum academic preparation for faculty in baccalaureate schools of nursing. There was a strong indication from the data that a doctoral degree in nursing will be the expected future academic preparation of collegiate nursing faculty. Continuing education, research, publication, and community service were given a high priority as criteria for reappointment and promotion. The criterion regarding work experience during the summer in a clinical practice setting is currently not given consideration, if any, for reappointment and promotion. However, it was given more consideration as one of the criteria that should be utilized in reappointment and promotion.