Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

An exploratory study was undertaken to develop an organizational profile of forty nursing schools in the midwest and southern regions and to provide useful data for planning decisions. Data were obtained through mailed questionnaires and telephone interviews. The dependent variable is success rate on the licensure examination; the independent variables are ten organizational characteristics of nursing schools. The data were examined by descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and multiple regression analysis, using a .05 level of significance.

The increasing complexity of today's nursing coupled with the growing need for higher numbers of expertly trained nursing staff requires faculty members who are prepared to handle this challenge. Mentoring has been noted as a successful tool for advancing careers, fulfilling role expectations, and providing resources for guidance. With a nursing shortage threatening and a bulge in the population of baby boomers beginning to retire, nurses are in high demand. The purpose of this study was to examine the concept of mentoring in nursing, determine if nursing faculty have been mentored and to ascertain the characteristics of mentoring reported by nursing faculty.The population for the study was nursing faculty from three mid-western schools of nursing. A convenience sample of all nursing faculty who agreed to participate was used. The participants were given a demographic tool and Darling's Measuring Mentoring Potential (MMP) Scale to complete. The MMP consisted of fourteen items that described the most significant characteristics of mentors.The pool consisted of 52 faculty with a response rate of 84.6% (n=44). All of the faculty that completed the questionnaire were mentored. The majority of respondents (n=43) were female ranging in age from 40-59 (84.1%). Fifty percent were Master's prepared nurses and 41% held doctoral degrees. The respondents reported the three highest characteristics of mentoring as Model, Envisioner, and Energizer which is consistent with Darling's research as denoting a significant mentoring relationship.The findings revealed that nursing faculty have been mentored and that these mentoring relationships were significant as defined by Darling. Due to proposedupcoming shortages in nursing staff and nursing faculty, this study was significant to provide data about the mentoring relationship. Nurse administrators can use information about mentoring to structure formal mentoring programs to facilitate transition into faculty roles. The implication of this study is that mentoring can be used to promote growth in new faculty members and provide schools of nursing with adequately prepared new faculty as more experienced professors retire. / School of Nursing

This study was designed to explore the experiences of Black women who attended predominantly White nursing schools. A phenomenological design was used to investigate eight nurses who persisted through to graduation from their nursing programs in the 21st century. The study examined persistence through the lens of academic involvement, alienation, loneliness and isolation, culture, identity and fit, self-concept, and institutional climate and racism. In-depth interviews were conducted to answer the following questions: (1) What does it mean to be Black in a PWI? What are Black nurses' perceptions of the nursing school experience, (2) How did the Black culture fit in with the nursing education culture, (3) What factors influenced your persistence to completion of the program? van Manen's qualitative methods were used for data analysis. Interviews were recorded and transcribed and analyzed exegetically (test is organized around the literature review using the concepts that have already been identified) and thematically. The six themes that emerged were (1) Dealing with stress and nobody cares, (2) Indifference and the need for recognition, (3) Do they even know I am here, (4) Invisibility vs. Visibility, (5) Differentness, unfairness, and condescension, (6) Yes, I am Black and a Woman and I am moving on. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Black nurses who graduated from predominantly White nursing schools by using stories told by those nurses. This study sought to add to the dearth of literature available on Black's experiences in PWIs which would increase awareness and understanding of Black nurses' experiences. Educators and nursing schools can then prepare programs to recruit and retain students of color.

Background: Reviewed literature revealed a number of responses to the calls to reform nursing education to respond to the priority health needs of the country. The 1997 National Health Care Policy served as the basis for the reforms in nursing education. Some of the nursing schools in South Africa embarked on a process of recurriculating to community based, problem based education long before the tabling of the 1997 National Health Care Policy with the aim to respond to priority health needs. Literature however showed that no research has been conducted to explore the concept responsive education within the South African context, especially in nursing education and whether nursing programmes are responding to the needs of the South Africa population. Therefore the purpose of the study was to explore the concept responsive education and responsiveness of the Nursing Education Programmes at Lilitha College of Nursing to the health needs of the Eastern Cape population. Research Methodology: A qualitative research approach with an ethnography design was used to guide the research process in this study. Purposive and convenient sampling was used to select the participants. The participants included policy makers from the Department of Health (Eastern Cape), lecturers and campus heads of Lilitha's three campuses (Umthatha, Port Elizabeth and East London), the professional nurses and the graduates at the primary health clinics, as well as the college principal. Initially, data collection and data analysis took place concurrently, Findings: Responsive education in this study was characterized by relevance to the health needs of the community, responding to national policies, community involvement and participation, use of health priorities to update the curriculum and graduates who can provide quality care. Cultural themes that emerged under responsive nursing programmes included; the special nature of the curriculum used, the innovative teaching strategies used, clinical learning sites which are congruent with the programme outcomes, the role played by all stakeholders in the programme, and assessment strategies used which are in line with the programme outcomes. A number of factors emerged as barriers to the production of responsive graduates. The findings in this study also revealed competencies of graduates from a responsive nursing programme, which included practical and transferable life skills. Recommendations: These included reviewing of existing nursing programmes with the aim of ensuring that they respond to the health needs of the community, revisiting teaching strategies used, building capacity of lectures in the area of innovative teaching and revisiting graduate competencies in nursing programmes to that they are in line with what the community demands. / Thesis (M.Nursing)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

Socialization into the nursing profession is essential for student nurses to develop an internalized professional identity and the corresponding professional role. The espoused professional values are the foundation for the development of professional identity and commitment to the profession. Nurse educators have a responsibility to foster students' learning for the development of the student nurse as a professional. The formation and internalization of a professional identity through acquisition of values that are congruent with those espoused by the profession facilitates professional development.The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how baccalaureate nursing students were professionally socialized into nursing values in the classroom. Mezirow's transformational learning was used to examine how nursing students came to critically reflect on personal and professional values as part of the process of professional socialization.The context for this study was a university classroom setting. A purposive sample of eight nursing students in a baccalaureate program in the first nursing, non-clinical course was used.The study used interviews, observations, and review of documents which included the informants' journals, course text, course examinations and syllabus. Two one-hour interviews were conducted with the informants at the fifth week of a seven week course and at completion. The instructor was also interviewed following completion of the course. The three classroom observations were conducted every other week to correspond with significant content areas. Journals were collected every other week.The findings suggest that nursing students do not attain the espoused professional values from the formal curriculum or role-modeling of the instructor in a classroom setting. Qualities attributed to the professional values were expressed rather than the values themselves through personal experiences. Content areas which were controversial and value-laden held the most meaning and triggered critical reflection on personal and professional values. Eight subcategories emerged from the data analysis: formal curriculum, perceived personal values, perceived values learned in the classroom, perceived values role-modeled, triggers for critical reflection, hidden curriculum, sense of belonging to the profession, and consequences of professional socialization.This study has implications for nurse educators regarding teaching strategies, nursing education and curriculum development, professions concerned with professional socialization, and adult educators interested in Mezirow's theory. Further study is recommended on aspects of belonging, triggers for critical reflection, and professional values. / Department of Educational Leadership

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1988. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [179]-187.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Nov. 5, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-68).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 1998. / Title from document title page. "September 29, 1998." Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 136 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-114).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Marie M. Seedor. Dissertation Committee: Ann Lieberman. Includes tables. Includes bibliographical references.