BECOMING A NURSE: TRANSITIONS AND ADJUSTMENTS.
Contributors: Arizona State University.
Published: 1989
Number of pages: 180
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Curriculum and Instruction.
Description: This dissertation analyzed the process of students becoming nurses, from entry into the nursing program, through being a student nurse, to assuming a new identity of nurse. The major phases of the process of becoming a nurse were: "I want to be a nurse," "I am a student nurse," and "I am a nurse: I am not a nurse." The purposes of this study were (a) to develop a grounded substantive theory that would explain the social-psychological aspects of adjustments related to becoming a nurse, and (b) to attempt to understand students' perceptions and feelings as they adjusted to becoming nurses. The development of the theory was intended to form the basis for improving practice in nursing education.

Data were collected between 1983 and 1986 within a community college associate degree nursing program located in a metropolitan area in the southwestern United States. Twenty-two female respondents participated in this study: 15 nursing students, 4 nursing instructors, 2 academic counselors, and 1 administrator.

Methods used to collect data were interviews, teacher evaluations, and participant observation. Concepts that emerged from the data were incorporated into categories: (a) breaking free; (b)coping: acquisition of knowledge and competencies; (c) stress, coping, and support: relationships; (d) coping and learning: support and facilitation; and (e) transitions. Propositions were developed for each category.

The substantive theory of adjusting to becoming a nurse was applied to improving educational practice through developing a curriculum construal and by suggesting uses of the substantive theory for everyday practice. The curriculum construal can be used as a guide for nursing instructors to develop positive interpersonal skills and as a model for curriculum content for teaching interpersonal skills to students, faculty members, and others.

Recommendations for further research are: (a) conducting a comprehensive evaluation of nursing curricula; (b) offering courses focusing on content related to understanding and adjusting to transitions from lay person to nurse; (c) using grounded-theory methodology concentrating on basic social-psychological process for future research in education and in nursing practice; and (d) further research in this context to add to this substantive theory becoming a nurse.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-06, Section: B, page: 2339.

Thesis (PH.D.)--ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1989.

School code: 0010.