Nursing students' changing orientation and attitudes towards nursing during education: A two year longitudinal study

Abstract

Tutors and mentors should pay more attention to the individual perceptions and problems of first and second-year students, both in the classroom and during clinical placements. Knowledge of the students' perceptions from the very beginning could be vital to study success.

Perception of nursing profession – focus group interview among applicants to nursing education

“…Furthermore, nursing profession's independency was not recognised and subordination to medicine was also still prevalent in the applicants’ descriptions. Moreover, nursing was described as a steady job, with economical security and variety of different places where to work, which is supported by . However, the applicants did not recognise the career development possibilities in nursing profession, which is consistent with a recent literature review .…”

“…Nurses' negative attitudes toward their own profession have also been recognised in the earlier literature (32). Nurses' negative image of their profession has been linked to the negative public image of nursing, which in return influences nurses' attitudes toward their own work (13,6). Moreover, the public image of nursing is influenced by the media's presentation of nurses, which has been stated to present nursing in unrealistic ways (33).…”

“…Young people's misperceptions of the nursing profession were already discovered in the 1990s , and the misperceptions still persist . Nursing students’ perceptions of nursing profession have been widely researched and multiple studies agree that career choices in nursing are usually made with altruistic motivations . According to Toth , education has no influence on students’ perceptions although many other studies are reporting that education influences the perceptions.…”

Changes in attitudes of full-time and part-time nursing students in Croatia on nursing during their education

“…Full-time and part-time students did not differ from the average results on the questionnaire in the first year of study, after which the results increased in value for both student groups, with the increase for full-time students being somewhat faster, and their final results at the end of study being higher than those of part-time students. In studies conducted using the same questionnaire (NIQ7), Grainger and Bolan (2006), Grainger (2009), andTen Hoeve et al (2017), also report changes in attitudes during study. Students with previous clinical experience (part-time students) undergo a different process of socialisation in the profession.…”

“…A more positive attitude was observed in students with previous clinical experience as nurses, their attitudes towards nursing are more stable (Wilson et al 2011;Koushali, Hajiamini, Ebadi, 2012;Ten Hoeve et al, 2016), and they are more successful during the course (Wilson et al, 2011). Idealistic views of the profession held when enrolling fade (Brodie et al, 2004;Milisen et al, 2010), professional attitudes are adopted, and attitudes are positively changed (Vanhanen, Janhonen, 2000;Karaoz, 2004;Day et al, 2005;Safadi et al, 2011;Ten Hoeve et al, 2017). During the study program, most respondents have a positive attitude towards nursing.…”