DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONALISM: AN APPLICATION TO NURSING (CREDENTIALING, EVALUATION).
Contributors: Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 200
Subjects: Education, Higher.
Description: What is profession and how do you identify an occupational group's professionalization? These two questions are asked by many occupations who seek professionalism. This study produces a definition and characteristics of the concept of profession and then builds a theoretical framework through which the development of professionalism can be traced and explained. An underlying issue also addressed in this study is the advantages and disadvantages to the occupation and society of professionalization. It is an issue each occupation must face and only if the advantages to both groups outweight the disadvantages should professionalism become an acceptable goal.

This descriptive study brought together historical data and current work on the topic of professionalism. Through an intensive and critical review of the literature, a synthesized definition and theoretical framework were developed. Three components of the framework were identified: societal, organizational, and attitudinal. All three must be present and interactive if an occupation is to progress and blockage in any one will impede progress. The framework was then applied to various occupations to elucidate the critical elements. Once validated, this framework was applied to nursing, its development traced historically, and its current status analyzed. This data was then used to reach conclusions about nursing's current state, including that professionalism was an acceptable goal, and formed the basis of policy recommendations for future progress.

One significant finding was that no discipline could truly identify as a profession unless clear articulation existed between standards and credentialing, the group exhibited autonomous control over these, and societal legitimacy was granted. Nursing has achieved none of these, but it does possess the potential to become a profession and this would be of benefit to both nursing and to society as a whole. For this reason, to benefit society, recommendations for nursing's advance to full professionalism are presented.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-08, Section: A, page: 2203.

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

School code: 0163.