Career Preferences of Nursing Students

Abstract

This study investigates novice and experienced student nurses' attitudes about caring for patients across the lifespan. Students were also asked why they would enjoy or not enjoy caring for children and older adults. Both novice (n = 114) and advanced (n = 56) nursing students were relatively positive about caring for patients across the lifespan. However, novices were significantly more negative about working with older patients, particularly after experiencing a first clinical placement. In contrast, a significant quadratic effect was found for advanced students, indicating more negativity about working with both children and older adults. When giving reasons for why they would enjoy caring for older patients, novices were more likely than were advanced students to focus on stereotypical characteristics and on negative health outcomes of older adults as a group. Overall, results suggest that the attitudes driving career interests in nursing students change as training advances.

Nursing students’ preferences for clinical placements in the residential aged care setting

“…While some have suggested changes to the construct of the aged care workforce as a potential solution, with a greater focus on care workers or nonprofessionals, the increasing acuity of those residing in RACFs would suggest an increasing need for RNs with speciality geriatric and aged care knowledge and skills (Dellefield, Castle, McGilton, & Spilsbury, ; Zhang et al., ). Prior research into the decreased ability of RACFs to attract and retain RNs in the workforce suggests a range of reasons for the phenomena, including lower remuneration (Abbey et al., ), ageist attitudes (Gould, MacLennan, & Dupuis‐Blanchard, ; Kabátová, Botíková, Uríčková, & Slaný, ) and perceived lower status (Abbey et al., ; Haron, Levy, Albagli, Rotstein, & Riba, ). Undergraduate nursing students are not immune to the commentary surrounding the aged care sector (Gould et al., ; Haron et al., ); however, there are mixed research findings around their attitudes towards aged care (Chi, Shyu, Wang, Chuang, & Chuang, ; Gould et al., ; Neville, ).…”

“…Prior research into the decreased ability of RACFs to attract and retain RNs in the workforce suggests a range of reasons for the phenomena, including lower remuneration (Abbey et al., ), ageist attitudes (Gould, MacLennan, & Dupuis‐Blanchard, ; Kabátová, Botíková, Uríčková, & Slaný, ) and perceived lower status (Abbey et al., ; Haron, Levy, Albagli, Rotstein, & Riba, ). Undergraduate nursing students are not immune to the commentary surrounding the aged care sector (Gould et al., ; Haron et al., ); however, there are mixed research findings around their attitudes towards aged care (Chi, Shyu, Wang, Chuang, & Chuang, ; Gould et al., ; Neville, ). It is also possible that ageist attitudes that pervade societies (Vauclair, Hanke, Huang, & Abrams, ) may also shape perceptions of the values of working with older persons, both within the aged care sector and more generally (Algoso, Peters, Ramjan, & East, ; Ben‐Harush et al., ).…”

“…Clinical placements undertaken by nursing students help shape their attitudes and are a key determinant of student career decisionmaking (Abbey et al, 2006;Algoso et al, 2016;Brown, Nolan, Davies, Nolan, & Keady, 2008;Duggan, Mitchell, & Moore, 2013;Gould et al, 2012;King, Roberts, et al, 2013;Lamont, Brunero, & Woods, 2015;McKenna et al, 2010;Shih & Chuang, 2008). A study of UK nursing students' placements found there was a positive relationship between a good placement experience and attractiveness of the organisation as an employer following graduation (Andrews, Brodies, Andrews, Wong, & Thomas, 2005).…”

A systematic review of psychometric testing of instruments that measure intention to work with older people

“…Six studies adopted a self-developed single 'yes' or 'no' close-ended question to survey the student nurses' preferences or intention to work with older people (Karlin et al 2006, Hweidi & Al-Obeisat 2006, Bernardini Zambrini et al 2008, Erdemir et al 2011, Henry & Ozier 2011, Carlson & Idvall 2015. Seven studies adopted a single question with Likert scale (Lee et al 2006, Lamet et al 2011, Goncalves et al 2011, Gould et al 2012, Eshbaugh et al 2013, Ayo glu et al 2014, Zisberg et al 2015. A study from Israel (Haron et al 2013) employed a single multiple choice question.…”

“…2011, Bleijenberg et al 2012, Gould et al 2012, Rathnayake et al 2015, preferences(Kloster et al 2007, McCann et al 2010, Stevens 2011, Gillespie 2013, King et al 2013, interest(Swanlund & Kujath 2012) and intention(Dekeyser Ganz & Kahana 2006, Henderson et al 2008, Shen & Xiao 2012, Xiao et al 2013 to work with older people.…”