Term of Award

Summer 1992

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Committee Chair

Camille P. Stern

Committee Member 1

Marilyn Buck

Committee Member 2

Grace Martin

Abstract

There are over two million registered nurses (RN) in the United States, yet most areas face a shortage in the nursing workforce. The future of nursing as a profession lies in having individuals who are committed to professional nursing.

The primary purpose of this descriptive study was to determine if entry level education had an affect on the individual's commitment to nursing as a profession. Other factors that may be related to commitment to nursing as a profession were also explored in this study. They were: (a) type of employment agency, (b) years of experience, (c) years in current position, (d) type of position, and (e) age.

Hall and Wilensky's professional model was the theoretical framework for this quantitative study. Hall's revised Professional Inventory was used to measure commitment to the profession. This instrument has 25 questions based on the attitudinal attributes of the professional model and was scored on a Likert type scale.

Four hundred and fifty survey questionnaires were mailed to RNs in randomly selected acute care hospitals, home health agencies and public health departments throughout the state of Georgia. The return rate was 54.4% (n=245).

Descriptive statistics were used to measure the demographical data. Analysis of variance was used to test for differences in the group means. Pearson's correlation was used to determine if relationships existed.

The mean age was 41.66 and the years of experience mean was 16.96. These results were supportive for RNs making long term commitments for employment in the profession. The mean professional inventory score was 91.25 out of a possible score of 125. This suggests that RNs do see themselves as committed to the profession. There were no significant differences in the entry level education groups (associate, baccalaureate, diploma), type of position, or type of employment agency when tested with commitment to nursing as a profession. No significant relationships were found when correlation techniques were used to measure age, years of experience, years in current position with commitment to nursing as a profession. These results support the idea that there are multiple factors that affect commitment to nursing as a profession.

Copyright

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