PROFESSIONAL VALUES OF NURSING FACULTY: AN EXPLORATION OF INFLUENCING FACTORS.
Contributors: Pennsylvania State University.
Published: 1994
Number of pages: 93
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Higher.; Health Sciences, Education.
Description: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which there is congruence between the values and characteristics identified as essential in college and university education for professional nursing by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the actual professional values held by nursing faculty. Professional acquisition is part of the socialization of nurse faculty, therefore the relationship between professional value differences among nurse faculty and factors such as type of employing institution, academic background, work experience, and age were examined.

The Hall Professional Inventory Scale and a demographic questionnaire was distributed to the total nursing faculty in four baccalaureate programs in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The schools represented public, private, and religious institutions. The values included the Use of the Professional Organization as a Major Referent (authenticity); Service to Others (altruism); Self-Regulation (self-discipline and accountability); Sense of Calling (commitment) and Autonomy (independence).

The data revealed that the nursing faculty held all of the identified values in varying intensity with all mean scores higher than the neutral survey point. The highest value scores were obtained on the variable Use of the Professional Organization as a Major Referent which may reflect the unusually high activity of faculty in the professional organization of the region when compared with other nurses. The lowest overall scores were found for the value Sense of Calling.

Nurse faculty teaching in religious institutions had the highest scores in Use of the Professional Organization as a Major Referent, Service to Others, and Total Score. Those in the public institutions scored highest in Self-Regulation; those in the private institutions, lowest in Autonomy.

When basic academia preparation was examined, faculty who originally graduated from diploma programs scored highest in Service to Others. Assessment of the highest degree earned revealed that those who held a non-nursing doctorate from private, secular institutions scored highest in Service to Others.

Work experience disclosed a positive correlation between years of clinical practice prior to assuming a faculty position and scores on the Use of the Professional Organization, Service to Others, and overall average score. Certification in a clinical specialty was related to high scores on Use of the Professional Organization and Autonomy. Nurse practitioners also had high Autonomy scores. Those who reported positive out-of-class interactions with students had high scores in Autonomy and Sense of Calling. Those who found the "professional" content in their courses adequate, or better, had high scores on Self-Regulation and Sense of Calling. The only negative value score was obtained on Service to Others by those reporting teaching on the graduate level.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-07, Section: B, page: 2649.

Thesis (D.ED.)--THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1994.

School code: 0176.