PERSISTENCE AMONG REGISTERED NURSE STUDENTS IN A BACCALAUREATE PROGRAM.
Contributors: University of Oregon.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 184
Subjects: Education, Higher.
Description: The purpose of this study was to determine whether social support, employer support, and life change are related to the persistence in college of registered nurse students.

Prior research on persistence has focused primarily on traditional-aged students. Although academic performance and aptitude have been found to be predictors of persistence, no single factor predicts which students will drop out. Tinto has theorized that persistence is the result of an interaction among variables, a complex process that reflects a student's integration into the institution. Mature students returning to higher education reflect an environment that extends beyond the institution. They lead complex lives that include parenthood, jobs, and community responsibilities. This study sought to determine whether nonacademic variables affect persistence among mature students.

Method. A questionnaire survey was completed by 80 students who had persisted and 21 students who had not persisted in a baccalaureate program for registered nurses. The survey included the Schedule of Recent Events, the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, and the Individual Information Form. Interviews of fourteen subjects were done to amplify the questionnaire responses.

Results and Conclusions. Discriminant analysis of the questionnaire results correctly classified 63 percent of the nursing students when they were employed. Accuracy of classification decreased to 57 percent when those nurses who were not employed were added to the analysis. The two variables that contributed the most weight to the discriminant analysis were life change and employer support. Social support did not contribute to classification.

Interview results indicated that persisting nurses found more respect for their educational endeavors than did nonpersisters. They also sought and found solutions to financial problems. Persisting nurses were more likely to have located jobs and housing closer to campus than the nonpersisters.

Counseling of students who are planning to return to school should include planning for studies when minimum life changes are anticipated, and when employment schedules can be modified. Mature students indicated the same needs for financial support that are experienced by other students.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-07, Section: A, page: 1844.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, 1985.

School code: 0171.