COGNITIVE STYLES AND LEARNING PREFERENCES OF REGISTERED NURSES IN BACCALAUREATE NURSING PROGRAMS IN PUBLIC COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (FIELD-INDEPENDENT; FIELD-DEPENDENT).
Contributors: University of Connecticut.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 133
Subjects: Education, Higher.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: As a result of the American Nurses' Association (ANA) proposal for the baccalaureate degree in nursing as the educational basis for the profession, large numbers of registered nurse (RN) students are returning to school. Rigidity of nursing programs engenders difficulties for these individuals and is prompting withdrawals from nursing programs and enrollment in other programs. A starting point in efforts to ameliorate this situation is the study of cognitive styles and learning preferences of RN students.

The design of the study was ex post facto in nature. The study examined the cognitive styles and learning preferences in a convenience sample of 221 returning RN students in seven public colleges and universities in Massachusetts. The study tested identified cognitive styles and learning preferences of the subjects and examined the relationships of styles and preferences among the subjects. Relationships of the following demographic and educational variables to the styles and preferences were also examined: age, level of education, and reasons for returning to school.

Data on cognitive style were generated by administration of the Group Embedded Figures Test. Data on learning style preferences were generated by administration of the Learning Preference Inventory. A demographic questionnaire was used to generate information regarding selected educational and demographic variables.

Chi square, correlation, discriminant function, and regression analysis constituted the principal statistical applications for the study. Five null hypotheses were tested.

The most valuable finding of the study was that independent learners (45% of the total) were nearly as prevalent as dependent learners among the sample of returning RN students. The preferred learning modes of the sample in descending order were: concrete, teacher-structured, individual, interpersonal, student-structured, and abstract.

Cognitive style and learning preferences were not predictors of each other. None of the selected demographic and educational variables were predictors of cognitive style.

Significant relationships were found between the following learning preferences and reasons for returning to school: individual learning and social relationships; individual learning and social welfare; interpersonal learning and external expectations; concrete learning and escape/stimulation.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: A, page: 1666.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT, 1987.

School code: 0056.