The purposes of this study were to (1) describe the personal values and work values of nursing students in the last year of their present educational preparation, (2) to investigate the relationships between values, both personal and work, and selected demographic variables (type of educational institution, present educational preparation, job interests, and age), and (3) to examine the correlations between students' personal values and work values. Using the Profile of Life Values (PLV) and the Ohio Work Values Inventory (OWVI) , the personal and work values of 452 student nurses were examined, first as a total sample for means and standard deviations, then by selected demographic variables with MANOVA, ANOVA, and Scheffe at the .10 level of significance. In the sample were 43 students from graduate nursing programs, 143 students from baccalaureate nursing programs, and 266 students from associate degree programs, from both public and private educational institutions in two northwestern states. The order of the means for the total sample on the PLV scales from the highest to lowest were Considerate, Intellectual, Achievement, Recognition, Creative, Artistic, and Integrity. The order of the means for the total sample on the OWVI scales from highest to lowest were Task Satisfaction, Self Realization, Altruism, Security, Money, Independence, Ideas/Data Orientation, Object Orientation, Control, Prestige, and Solitude. In comparing the values on the PLV and OWVI by type of educational institution, the means were significantly higher for students enrolled in private educational institutions than for students from public educational institutions. When the values on the PLV and OWVI scales were compared by educational preparation, significant differences were found on the means, with graduate students placing more values on Intellectual, baccalaureate degree students placing more value on Recognition, Control, Independence, and Object Orientation, and associate degree students placing more value on Integrity, Security, and Money. When the means on the PLV and OWVI scales were examined by job interest, students interested in pediatrics placed more importance on Considerate, Achievement, and Intellectual; students interested in specialty areas, such as the operating room or emergency room placed more value on Object Orientation, just as students interested in critical care and pediatrics placed more value on Object Orientation than did the students interested in medical/surgical nursing, geriatrics, obstetrics, mental health, nurse practitioner or clinical specialist role. In the final comparison of the PLV and OWVI values with age, the 40-54 age group placed more value on Intellectual while the 20-29 age group placed more value on Recognition, Security, Control, Money, and Prestige. Using Chi-Square as the inferential test, educational preparation and job interests were found to be related. Graduate students were primarily interested in the nurse practitioner or clinical specialist role; students receiving a baccalaureate degree expressed more interest in critical care and pediatrics; students receiving an associate degree expressed more interest in medical/ surgical nursing and geriatrics. In examining the correlations between the PLV and OWVI, 58 of the 77 coefficients were significant at the .05 level. The correlations of the two instruments demonstrated a logical relationship exists between the instruments. These findings have implications for nursing education. The educational foundation for nursing is based on the fostering of personal well-being and continuing growth through interpersonal interactions. The nursing curriculum needs to be reviewed periodically for differentiation, interpretation, and clarification of values. In order to provide an education that is conducive to recognition of values, the faculty need to be aware of their own values, be able to recognize how their values relate to teaching, student learning, and professional practice, and periodically evaluate how they use values in the process. Teaching by relating values to subject matter, human differences, and practice enables student nurses to recognize and understand their own values as well as the values of other people. These findings have implications for further research, as values of faculty and students are in some ways related to age, specific interests, and educational preparation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-5743 |
| Date | 07 May 1992 |
| Creators | Bellarts, Stella Beach |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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