The primary purpose of this study is to determine the nursing perceptions among prenursing students enrolled in a baccalaureate prenursing program. Objectives in the study included describing undergraduate baccalaureate prenursing student on selected demographic characteristics such as age, gender, ethnic background, etc., determining the perceptions of students about the nursing profession, and determining if a relationship existed between students' perceptions of nursing and selected personal characteristics such as classification, reason for choosing nursing, area of nursing practice most interested, etc.
A total of 207 (66.35%) prenursing students enrolled in prerequisite courses for a baccalaureate nursing program participated in the study. Instrumentation consisted of a two-part researcher designed instrument, Cockrell-Punter Nursing Perceptions Scale Instrument. Data were obtained from students who were in a prenursing program of study and came to the prenursing advising office for counseling.
The findings of the study indicated that prenursing students are unclear about their perceptions of the nursing profession, and direct experiences with the healthcare professions have an impact on students' decision making regarding nursing.
The researcher concluded that most prenursing students recognize the need for career information about nursing, and the majority of students are willing to enroll in an Introduction to Nursing course even if for no academic credit.
The researcher recommends that universities should consider implementing a Introduction to Nursing course, which includes a lecture and field experience component as an effective recruiting tool and for nursing programs to assist currently enrolled prenursing students to solidify their career choice.
In addition, the researcher recommends that further research be done to follow the baccalaureate prenursing participants in this study through nursing school and into their early nursing career to compare prenursing students perceptions of nursing with their perceptions of nursing as senior nursing students and after 5 years of nursing practice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-0612102-103031 |
| Date | 13 June 2002 |
| Creators | Cockrell, Essie Dee Scott |
| Contributors | Satish Verma, John M. Larkin, Michael F. Burnett, Margo Abadie |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-0612102-103031/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University Libraries in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. |
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