ATTRITION OF PROFESSIONAL NURSES AS RELATED TO SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS AND PERCEPTIONS OF BUREAUCRACY (CHARACTERISTICS, PERSONALITY, SOCIALIZATION, EDWARDS).
Contributors: Hofstra University.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 217
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Studies to ascertain the causes of and the solutions to the shortage of registered professional nurses engaged in practice in the hospital setting have yielded conflicting results. This research was an attempt to obtain some definitive information about attrition from practice.

Argyris' theory, which postulated conflict between highly bureaucractic settings and self-actualization of the individual which can result in flight from the organization, was the theoretical foundation of the research. The theory was operationalized by means of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule and the Scales of Centralization, Formalization, and Technology developed by Hall, Aiken, and Hage.

A sample of 500 registered professional nurses was randomly chosen from a list of nurses registered with the New York State Education Department as of February 1984. A mail survey, the design of which was adapted from Dillman's Total Design Method, was utilized to elicit information to test the hypotheses that there would be a difference in social-psychological needs and perceptions of bureaucracy when the responses of nurses who had left hospital practice and those who remained were compared. It was further hypothesized that nurses with a baccalaureate degree in nursing would manifest needs consistent with a professional orientation to a greater degree than nurses with an associate degree or a diploma education. A response rate of 40% was attained.

A discriminant analysis and a multivariate analysis of variance were employed to test the hypotheses. Although the hypotheses were not supported in their entirety, significant differences were apparent when perceptions of codification or standardization of work, deference, and aggression were compared. The group of nurses who had formerly practiced in a hospital setting manifested perceptions of standardization of work which were significantly higher than those nurses who remained; they also had a lower need for aggression and a higher need for deference. There were no differences between nurses with diverse educational preparation other than in the need autonomy which was significantly higher for associate degree nurses. For all respondents, hospitals were viewed as more bureaucratic than democratic.

Reasons for non-support of the hypotheses were discussed and implications of the findings explicated.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-08, Section: B, page: 2620.

Thesis (PH.D.)--HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY, 1985.

School code: 0086.