RELATIONSHIP OF INVOLVEMENT IN COLLEGE ACTIVITIES TO PERSISTENCE TOWARDS BACHELOR'S DEGREE COMPLETION IN NURSING (NURSING EDUCATION, STUDENT INVOLVEMENT).
Contributors: University of California, Los Angeles.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 192
Subjects: Education, Higher.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Administration.; Education, Guidance and Counseling.
Description: Attrition from baccalaureate nursing programs has been cited at between 19 and 57%. College attrition has been associated with students' race, academic performance, and socioeconomic status (SES). Nursing students, generally, are among the more disadvantaged students in terms of academic performance and SES. Additionally, minority representation is increasing among nursing students.

From his study of attrition, Alexander Astin has documented a relationship between students' involvement in extracurricular and academic activities and their persistence in college. The involvement patterns of nursing students differ from those of many other students as they have a greater proportion of required courses and labs in their major and many of them work off-campus as nursing assistants. These activities distance them from other university students and activities but facilitate camaraderie, or a "nursing effect" among the students.

The study examined the relationship of involvement in college activities to persistence in the baccalaureate nursing program. Students majoring in primary education were chosen as a comparison group because they were presumed to be similar with respect to their academic performance, SES, and sex-role identity but lacked the increased course requirements in their major or "teacher effect.".

The study comprised analyses of data drawn from 10,746 students who completed the 1985 Freshman Survey and 1989 Follow-Up Survey from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program. The 10,746 students comprised nursing, primary education, and other students--354, 537, and 9855, respectively. Contingency and multiple regression analyses were performed to determine academic, extracurricular, and environmental factors associated with persistence.

Contingency analyses revealed positive relationships between persistence and HSGPA, living in student housing, and hours spent in class, and negative relationships between persistence and part-time on-campus and full-time jobs. Among the best predictors were hours spent in class, hours spent working, and high school and college grades. Although most of the data yielded nominal findings, there was some evidence regarding the notion of the nursing effect. That is, there may be a positive effect from the time spent with other nursing students either in class or at work in a health care setting.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-03, Section: A, page: 0828.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES, 1993.

School code: 0031.