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High school students’ perceptions of nursing as a career choice

University of British Columbia

The purpose of this study was to identify high school students' perceptions of nursing as a career choice. The conceptual framework used in this study was based on Osipow's self-concept theory (1983) and Gottfredson's (1981) theory of career aspiration. In this framework, career decision-making was viewed as a four stage process involving six factors: self-concept, career image, career preference, career accessibility, range of acceptable careers, and career choice. The three concepts from the conceptual framework explored in this study were, career image, preference, and accessibility. Students from three senior secondary schools in the Richmond School District and one high school in the Vancouver School District participated in the study. The sample consisted of 602 students in grades 11 and 12 from seven different classes. There were 262 males and 340 females. Data was collected using an adapted version of the Career Questionnaire developed by Kohler and Edwards (1990). Results showed that overall, high school students perceived nursing positively. In all three sub-categories, the mean scores were high, which indicated that students perceived nursing favourably. The possible range for the total mean score was 41 to 205. Males had a mean total score of 133.1, and females were significantly higher at 137.5 (p = 0.001). Students were frequently undecided in their responses, particularly in relation to questions involving money. Informational sources about nurses were primarily observation, followed by television, knowing someone who was a nurse, printed material, and lastly, through school. Although high school students had a positive image of nursing, few (8%) were considering it as a career choice. Recruitment in nursing is an under-explored and poorly understood phenomenon. Given the reluctance of high schools students to select nursing as a career choice, further research is needed to discover effective and efficient recruitment strategies. Therefore, it important to determine those factors that are most influential during high school students' career decision-making.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-01-30

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4015

Nursing

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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