Compare the perception of 1^st year B.Sc. Nursing students and 4^th year B.Sc. Nursing students towards nursing as a profession

 

Ms Anjitha N. P¹, Ms Hafsa Abdul Ahad M. H², Ms Roshna Merin Varghese³,

Mrs Sushmi M. S⁴, Dr Assuma Beevi T. M⁵

^1,2,3B.Sc. Nursing Students, MIMS College of Nursing, Puthukode, Kerala

⁴Assistant Professor, Department of Child Health Nursing, MIMS College of Nursing, Puthukode, Kerala

⁵Principal, HOD Child Health Nursing, MIMS College of Nursing, Puthukode, Kerala

 

ABSTRACT:

The study aims to compare the perception of 1^st year and 4^th year BSc nursing studentstowards nursing as a profession in selected colleges in Malappuram district. A quantitative descriptive study was done and convenient sampling technique was used for the study. The data collection period was for two weeks. The data was collected from 60 samples using structured questionnaire. Analysis of the data was done on the basis of objectives and hypothesis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The findings of the study shows that 86.6% of 1^st year BSc Nursing students have good perception and 13.4 % have poor perception towards nursing as a profession. Among 4^th year BSc Nursing students 90% students have good perception and 10% students have poor perception. Majority of the samples were females. There is significant difference between the perception of 1^st year and 4^th year BSc Nursing towards nursing as a profession. There is no significant association between socio demographic variables and perception of 1^st year and 4^th year BSc nursing students towards nursing as a profession.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Nursing is gaining recognition as profession. The image of both nurses and nursing as a profession are vital in the successful recruitment and retention of staff in the healthcare industry. Waters believes that nurses are the backbone of the healthcare sector and are fundamental in the delivery of quality care for all the inhabitants of a countries. Nursing students come into nursing education with inherent lay beliefs of nursing that evolve over years of education, enabling them to be professionally socialized into the nursing career.¹

 

Perception is the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted. It is important to ascertain how students perceive nursing and the decision to choose nursing to be their career. Nursing is the care domain which differentiates it from other health related professions. Changing health needs on one hand and expanding knowledge on other has made a remarkable impact on nursing profession as well. With increasing job opportunities in the country, abroad and increase in nursing educational institutions one can clearly appreciate the increase in enrolment of nursing students. Nursing as a career choice is often perceived as a hard work involving high pressure and stress. Therefore perception place a vital role in molding the individual as a person and a professional.²

 

Perception of nursing staff towards nursing as a profession is changing in day today life. Their intention to leave their job tended to increase. Evidently, to enhance nurse’s job performance and reduce their turnover intention, it is important to improve both the perception in the community and nurse’s self-perception the nursing profession needs to be clarified to the community in order for the latter to understand nurse’s roles and the vital tasks that they perform. The work environment is another important reason for the nursing turnover rate and the nurse’s intention to leave their profession increased when they lacked support in the work environment and when the demands of the profession overlapped with their family life. Moreover, stated that nurse’s intention to leave the profession or change their career was caused by dissatisfaction with salaries and shift work. At all levels of health care, nurses play an important role in effective management of cost of health care services and provision of holistic health care. With the recent emphasis and priority set by the Government of India for improving the quality of health services provided, the nursing professionals have a major responsibility. It is mandatory for them to have management skill for ensuring good working condition, smooth day to day operations and overall improvement in the health care delivery.³So the nursing students need good perception towards nursing as a profession.

 

OBJECTIVES:

1     Assess the perception of 1^st year BSc nursing students towards nursing as a profession in selected nursing college in Malappuram

2     Assess the perception of 4^th year BSc nursing students towards nursing as a profession in selected nursing college in Malappuram

3     Compare the perception of 1^st year and 4^th year BSc nursing students towards nursing as a profession.

4     Determine the association between the selected demographic variables and perception of 1^st year BSc nursing students towards nursing as a profession

5     Determine the association between the selected demographic variables and perception of 4th year BSc nursing students towards nursing as a profession

 

MATERIAL AND METHOD:

A quantitative research approach was used for this study. The study was conducted in selected nursing college in Malappuram district. Convenient non-probability sampling technique was found to be appropriate to select 60 students of 1^st year and 4^th year BSc nursing students in selected nursing college in Malappuram. The tool used for this study was socio demographic data of BSc nursing students containing information related to gender, religion, birth order, family member or relative in nursing field, future intension, and structured questionnaire to assess the perception of1^st year and 4^th year BSc Nursing towards nursing as a profession.The tool was distributed to four experts from various specialties along with the objective of the study for validation of research tool. Modification of tool was made based on expert’s suggestion and recommendations were incorporated in the structured questionnaire schedule. Ethical consideration was obtained from the ethical committee after submitting the proposal. Formal administrative permission was taken from the college authority. Informed consent was taken from the participants prior to the data collection. The data were collected using structured questionnaire.

 

RESULT:

Section 1: Analysis of demographic data:

Among 60 samples majority of participants (91.6%) were females and (8.4%) are males. Among them 56.6% subject belongs to Christian religion, 38.4% subject belongs to Hindu religion and 5% belongs to Muslim religion. Most of the participants (58.4%) belongs to 1^st child, 33.3% of students belongs to 2^nd child and 8.3% students belongs to 3^rd child. Majority (71.6%) of student’s family members or relatives belongs to nursing field. Figure 1 shows that 71.6% students are planning to go abroad, 43.3% students are planning to purse higher education, 33.3%students are planning to work in teaching institution, 28.3% students are planning to change profession, 23.3% students are planning to work in nursing administration field and 10% students are planning to work as a bed side nurse.

 

Section 2:

Assess the perception of 1^st year BSc Nursing students towards nursing as a profession

Among 1^st year BSc Nursing students 86.6% have good perception and 13.4 % have poor perception towards nursing as a profession.

 

Section 3:

Assess the perception of 4^th year BSc Nursing students towards nursing as a profession

Among 4^th year BSc Nursing students 90% students have good perception and 10% students have poor perception.

 

Section 4:

Compare the perception of 1^st year and 4^th year BSc Nursing students towards nursing as a profession.

Table 1 shows that the mean score of 1^st year BSc nursing students is 76.5 and the mean score of 4^th year BSc nursing students is 81.1. Independent t test is used to compare the 1^st year BSc nursing student and 4^th year BSc nursing student. There is significant difference between the perception of 1^st year and 4^th year BSc Nursing towards nursing as a profession

 

 

 

Figure 1: Distribution of sample based on future intention

 

Table 1: Compare the perception of 1^st year and 4^th year BSc Nursing students towards nursing as a profession.

Test	Mean	SD	Mean difference	t value	p value
1st year	76.5	8.69	4.6	1.83	0.036*
4th year	81.1	10.65

(*significant at 0.05 level)

 

Section 5:

Association between selected demographic variables and perception of 1^st year BSc Nursing students towards nursing as a profession.

There is no significant association between socio demographic variables and perception of 1^st year BSc Nursing students towards nursing as a profession. The value is not significant at 0.05 level

 

Section 6:

Association between selected demographic variables and perception of 4^th year BSc Nursing students towards nursing as a profession

There is no significant association between socio demographic variables and perception of 4^th year BSc Nursing students towards nursing as a profession. The value is not significant at 0.05 level

 

DISCUSSION:

The present study aim to compare the perception of 1^st year BSc nursing students and 4^th year BSc nursing students towards nursing as a profession. The present study reveals that participants have 88.3% good perception towards nursing as a profession and 11.6% participants gained poor perception towards nursing as a profession. The study shows that there is no significant association between demographic variables and perception of BSc Nursing students regarding nursing as a profession.

 

The study finding is consistent with an exploratory descriptive study conducted in Jordan based on the associate nursing student’s perception towards their profession. The study concluded that the associate nursing students generally have positive perceptions about the image of the nursing profession is positive towards nursing profession.¹

 

The study finding is also consistent with another exploratory study conducted in Sultan Qaboos University to assess the attitudes of students towards the nursing profession. Findings of study disclose that both the male and female students in all the academic years and colleges had a positive attitudes toward the nursing profession.⁴

 

CONCLUSION:

The study shows that most the nursing students have good perception towards nursing as a profession. There is significant difference between the perception of 1^st year and 4^th year BSc Nursing towards nursing as a profession

 

REFERENCES:

1.       Ibrahim Ali Tawfiq Al Jarrah.Associate nursing students perceptions toward nursing profession in Jordan .European Scientific Journal February 2013 edition vol.9, No.6 ISSN: 1857 –7881.Available from:https://eujournal. org/index.php/ esj/article/viewFile/822/884

2.       S. Swarna. Nursing Students Perception towards Profession and Future Intentions in Andhra Pradesh. Available from:www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jnhs/papers/vol4-issue5/Version-1/G04513034

3.       ShafeahMakdourAljedaani. Nurses’ Perceptions of Nursing as a Profession and Its Impact on Their Intention to Leave Their Career: Staff Nurses in Jeddah City. Available from:www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jnhs/papers/vol6-issue2/Version-4/B0602041323.

4.       Raghda K. Shukri, Bakkar S. Bakkar, Monther A. El-Damen, Samira M. Ahmed.Attitudes of Students at Sultan Qaboos University towards the Nursing Profession. Sultan QaboosUniv Med J. 2013 Nov; 13(4): 539–544.

 

 

 

Received on 09.10.2017           Modified on 14.11.2017

Accepted on 20.12.2017     © A&V Publications all right reserved