The primary goal of undergraduate nursing programs is to prepare students for nursing practice. Achievement of this goal may be hindered by reliance on the scientific method in nursing education. Nursing practice often requires the ability to make judgments in situations of ambiguity without the benefit of objective data. The ability to rapidly "read" a situation and respond appropriately is critical to safe nursing care. This requires education in the intuitive way of knowing. Intuitive development may be impeded when students are taught to rely on the rational, scientific way of knowing. The end result may be that students are unprepared to meet the demands of nursing practice. Research on intuition in nursing has focused on nursing practice. To date, no study has explored intuition in nursing education. This study provides data on intuition in undergraduate nursing curricula. A descriptive research study was done on faculty members of the National League for Nursing (NLN). An intuition survey was developed and pilot tested on 10 undergraduate nursing faculty. The survey was sent to a random sample of 676 NLN faculty members nationally. A 51% $(N = 330)$ response rate was achieved. The survey included: (a) intuition attitudes, (b) attitudes toward including intuition in the undergraduate nursing curriculum, (c) intuition in the current curricula, (d) practices related to development and teaching of intuition, and (e) preparation for teaching about intuition. The major findings are: (1) Faculty expressed attitudes of value for intuition. (2) Faculty expressed attitudes that support the importance and appropriateness of including intuition but had concerns about including intuition. (3) Intuition is currently included in the undergraduate nursing curriculum on a limited bases. (4) Faculty use many strategies to develop their own intuition and to help students develop intuition. The majority of faculty rate the strategies as effective. (5) A limited number of respondents had preparation to teach about intuition and the majority expressed interest in learning more about intuition. (6) Program type, years in nursing education, and highest degree in nursing made a difference on intuition attitudes.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the RN to BSN student's perceptions about what they need from curricula and the faculty to meet their educational goals. In addition, the study looked at the relationship between student identified needs and those identified by the faculty in regard to the RN to BSN curriculum.Evidence was collected using three focus group interviews with RN to BSN students and three focus group interviews with faculty who teach in RN to BSN programs. The number of participants in faculty focus group totaled 13 while participants in student focus groups totaled 16 participants. Individual follow-up interviews were conducted with participants from five of the six focus groups.A total of 50 concepts and a total of 20 subcategories were identified as significant as a result of the student data analysis. Seven themes emerged from the data analysis: 1) reasons for seeking BSN degrees (personal reasons, job advancement or maintenance, bridge to graduate school); 2) curricular content (nursing research, nursing leadership/management, health assessment, politics, computer technology, and general education); 3) curricular outcomes (professionalism, professional self-esteem, critical thinking); 4) institutional factors (advising and admissions processes, separation from traditional BSN students); 5) teaching methodologies (discussion, sharing, student presentations); 6) adult learning principles (self-direction, choices, peer learning, respect for experience); and 7) accommodations (acknowledgement for multiple roles, convenience, flexibility, credit for previous work, choices, physical environment). / Department of Educational Studies

Maintaining high levels of academic integrity in nursing programs is critical to student success and the transition to professional practice. Integrity encompasses the values of trustworthiness and honesty. Nursing faculty need to determine if they are providing students with the resources and communication needed to maintain a culture of integrity. It is important for faculty to determine if students tend to rationalize or neutralize the psychological effects of dishonest behaviors. Finally, it is important to determine methods to eliminate violations of academic integrity in nursing education. The overall design of the dissertation provides three distinct articles designed to stand alone as potential articles for publication. This dissertation is a part of a larger collaborative effort with two other Teachers College Doctoral students. The methods and procedures are the same for all principal investigators. Chapters I through III and Chapter V are all uniquely my own. Chapter IV represents the collaborative effort presented in this dissertation. In a cross-sectional, quantitative study design, McCabe’s Academic Integrity Survey- Modified for Nursing Students (MAIS-MNS), a Knowledge Assessment of Academic Integrity, and a Demographics Questionnaire were completed by 442 pre-licensure nursing students. In the individual portion of this study, the relationships between perceived faculty support of academic integrity policies; perceived faculty response to cheating; neutralization; and age are examined to determine if relationships exist between the variables. Additionally, in the collaborative chapter, the variables of severity and perceived faculty support of academic integrity policies were compared to the willingness to report peer violations and program-wide strategies to improve a culture of integrity. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 27 (IBM Inc., Armonk, NY, USA). Results indicated students who have higher perceived faculty support of academic integrity policies are less likely to rationalize academically dishonest behaviors. It was also found that younger students were more likely to rationalize dishonest behaviors. It is also important to consider from which source students are receiving academic integrity information. Course syllabi, first-year orientation, program counselors, faculty, deans and other administrators, and other students were all found to be significant predictors related to student perception of faculty support of academic integrity policies. Students who have higher perceptions of severity scores and higher perceptions of faculty support of academic integrity policies scores were found to be more willing to report peers. Additionally, having program-wide interventions, such as an honor code, could help strengthen the overall culture of integrity. Frequent communication and consistent academic integrity policies are vital for faculty to maintain throughout nursing programs Faculty should remain vigilant to changing trends in how students violate academic integrity violations and provide consistent messages.

Three hundred and eight nurse educators, who teach in NLN Accredited Bachelor of Science in Nursing Programs in the Midwest, were requested to complete a three-page survey concerning their perceptions and practices concerning student stress. The study demonstrated that nurse educators, in this study, were aware of the level of stress among students who were pursuing undergraduate degrees in nursing. The study found that most nurse educators understood that the sources of stress were a combination of the many roles and responsibilities of students. They were aware that most students needed services/interventions to assist them in coping with stress. Most nurse educators thought that they were responsible, to some degree, for intervening to assist students in decreasing their stress level. However, they expressed frustration at their attempts to help students. They indicated that many of the sources of stress were not within faculty control and that there was low participation when services/interventions were offered. Finally, the study found that most nurse educators thought that stress management for nursing students was included in the nursing curriculum. However, very little time was actually spent on stress management in the nursing program. Nurse educators indicated that they relied on other institutional services/interventions to provide stress management skills. However, many nurse educators indicated that they were willing to make changes to assist students. Nurse educators need to reconsider the amount of time that is spent facilitating students in reducing stress and helping them build coping skills that will continue to help them become competent nurses. Given the predicted nursing shortage that is estimated to last until 2020, the low application rate to nursing school, and the graying of America, it would seem prudent that nurse educators assist students who are in nursing programs become successful. The health of our nation may be at stake. The task for nurse educators is to help students recognize the signs of stress, understand the effects that unmanaged stress can produce, and teach the techniques that students can use in coping with stress. / Department of Educational Leadership

The purposes of this study were (1) to determine whether patients with AIDS are stigmatized by nursing faculty, (2) to determine whether practicing homosexuals are stigmatized by nursing faculty, (3) to determine whether faculty attitudes toward AIDS patients are influenced by the patients' sexual preference, and (4) to determine whether faculty attitudes toward practicing homosexual patients are influenced by the patients' disease. This study is a modified replication of studies by Kelly et al.