Vocation, Friendship and Resilience: A Study Exploring Nursing Student and Staff Views on Retention and Attrition

Abstract

Introduction:There is international concern about retention of student nurses on undergraduate programmes. United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions are monitored on their attrition statistics and can be penalised financially, so they have an incentive to help students remain on their programmes beyond their moral duty to ensure students receive the best possible educational experience.Aims:to understand students’ and staff concerns about programmes and placements as part of developing our retention strategies.Design: This study reports qualitative data on retention and attrition collected as part of an action research study.Setting:One University School of Nursing and Midwifery in the South West of England.Participants:Staff, current third year and ex-student nurses from the adult field.Methods:Data were collected in focus groups, both face-to face and virtual, and individual telephone interviews. These were transcribed and subjected to qualitative content analysis.Results:Four themes emerged: Academic support, Placements and mentors, Stresses and the reality of nursing life, and Dreams for a better programme.Conclusions:The themes Academic support, Placements and mentors and Stresses and the reality of nursing life, resonate with international literature. Dreams for a better programme included smaller group learning. Vocation, friendship and resilience seem instrumental in retaining students, and Higher Education Institutions should work to facilitate these. ‘Vocation’ has been overlooked in the retention discussions, and working more actively to foster vocation and belongingness could be important.

Nursing students' understanding and enactment of resilience: a grounded theory study

“…Resilience contributed to nursing students' meeting their challenges and academic goals (Carroll, 2011;Williamson, Health, & Proctor-Childs, 2013). However, despite the growing number of studies of nursing students' resilience, there remains limited description of nursing students' resilience, particularly their understanding and enactment of resilience.…”

“…As described in the studies, nursing students and nurse educators faced significant challenges that required them to have resilience. For example, resilience was demonstrated through students' perseverance with their challenges, which then was a contributing factor in facilitating success in their nursing education and in the completion of their degrees (Carroll, 2011;Williamson, Health, & Proctor-Childs, 2013). Carroll (2011) found that students described resilience as having the determination to succeed rather than retreating in the face of challenges.…”

“…Resilience was a major contributing factor to nursing students' assertiveness in dealing with aggressive behaviours of clinical staff in their clinical placements . School staff members attributed resilience to students' ability to remain in the program (Williamson et al, 2013).…”

“…In six qualitative studies, resilience was viewed as a trait or personal capacity. For example, Williamson et al (2013) suggested that resilience was a characteristic of students' personality that allowed them to adapt, withstand challenges, and stay in the nursing program. identified resilience as a personal characteristic that modifies students' ways of coping with stressors, hence changing their way of thinking and resulting in successful adaptation.…”

“…These nine themes included support, perseverance, autonomy, empathy, high expectations, sense of purpose, optimism, honesty, and critical thinking. Perseverance as a protective factor of resilience was a common theme among several studies of attrition and retention of nursing students Williamson et al, 2013).…”