NURSES' ATTITUDES TOWARD THE LICENSURE ISSUE, EDUCATIONAL MOBILITY, AND THE EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR CLINICAL ADVANCEMENT.
Contributors: Northern Arizona University.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 140
Subjects: Education, Health.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this study was to provide information about the attitudes of nurses in Arizona toward specified concerns in nursing: the educational requirement for RN licensure provision of programs for registered nurses to complete the BSN degree, and the educational requirement for clinical promotion.

A questionnaire was designed to elicit demographic information and, using a Likert-like scale, to assess respondents' opinions on the specified concerns in nursing. The mailed self-administered questionnaire was completed by 286 registered nurses who held active licenses to practice and were residing in Arizona in November-December, 1983. The response rate was 75.8 percent.

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze data. Subprogram Frequencies was used to answer the research questions and Subprogram Crosstabs was used to test the research hypotheses and to analyze selected characteristics of the respondents and attitudes toward the specified nursing issues.

The major finding of the study was that, while nearly three-fourths of the respondents were opposed to requiring the BSN degree for RN licensure, nearly two-thirds supported a certification/credentialing mechanism for nurses who attain the BSN degree. Nearly universal agreement existed about the desirability of facilitating registered nurses who wish to achieve the BSN degree. Over 40 percent of respondents favored the BSN degree as a requirement for promotion to a head nurse or supervisory position. Nurses prepared in BSN programs were more in agreement with requiring the BSN degree for RN licensure and for clinical promotion than diploma/ADN prepared nurses and differed significantly in their attitudes toward the BSN requirement.

The following conclusions were reached based upon the findings of the study: (1) a credentialing/certification mechanism for persons with BSN degrees is more acceptable to the nursing constituency than requiring the BSN degree for RN licensure, (2) provision of educational mobility for registered nurses is a unifying force in the nursing profession, and (3) more support exists for requiring a BSN degree for clinical promotion than for RN licensure.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-04, Section: A, page: 1044.

Thesis (ED.D.)--NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY, 1984.

School code: 0391.