INVESTIGATION OF NURSES' RESPONSE TO MANDATORY CONTINUING EDUCATION.
Contributors: Florida State University.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 174
Subjects: Education, Adult and Continuing.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this ex-post facto study was to investigate the nature and extent of nurses' affective response subsequent to six years of participation in mandatory continuing education. Specifically, the study (1) identified the nature and extent of nurses' shift in attitude toward mandatory continuing education since its inception, and (2) identified factors associated with the direction and degree of attitude change.

A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 1,000 registered nurses residing in Dade County, Florida. One section of the questionnaire measured attitude at the onset of participation in 1979, and six years later (1985). Another section of the questionnaire consisted of forced-choice and open-ended questions to elicit data on personal, professional, educational, and institutional factors associated with attitude change. The attitude scale was pre-tested for face and construct validity, and for internal and test-retest reliability. An overall response rate of 51% was achieved.

A one-tailed paired t-test was used to test the hypothesis; frequency distributions, one-way ANOVA and Chi square tests of significance were used to analyze four research questions. The hypothesis was supported; the majority of nurses (77.7%) retained their positive attitude or displayed a positive attitude shift in favor of mandatory continuing education, 22.3% demonstrated a negative shift in attitude.

The study concludes that nurses who maintained or developed positive attitudes perceived more benefits than problems with mandatory continuing education, identified an increase in both the quality and availability of continuing education programs, indicated that mandatory continuing education affected their performance in practice, and that mandatory continuing education should be retained. Cost and lack of relevant programs were problems identified by those nurses whose attitudes were negatively influenced by mandatory continuing education. The majority of respondents with a negative change in attitude felt that mandatory continuing education did not affect their performance in practice and should be abolished.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-08, Section: A, page: 2850.

Thesis (ED.D.)--THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1986.

School code: 0071.