"Perceptions of Nursing and of a Midwestern Associate Degree Nursing Program" study by Shannon Frodge

In August I posted the news and success of Shannon Frodge's Master's study in which Hodges' model was used as a theoretical framework.

I've copied the abstract, Shannon's reference to Hodges' model and her research questions below. There are some 55 pages, 9,700 words in total, if you want to the read the discussion and conclusion well according to Shannon the text is available on ProQuest.

Every so often I'll bring up the matter of nurse, health and social care recruitment on W2TQ: it really is going to be critical. I do not work in HR - recruitment, but being interested in public (mental) health I am very conscious of demographic trends and be(d)sides standards of care matter too...

Thanks Shannon for the copy, your specific focus on this issue and for recognising and using Hodges' model. I know evidence is important in terms of the tools we use, but you've demonstrated that tools can have a legitimate entry point in their adoption and application. You've posed many questions and presented new angles with recommendations too.

Abstract

The current nursing shortage is complicated by the fact not enough students choose nursing to offset the number of nurses who are nearing retirement. This is distressing to the profession, and is of particular interest to nursing schools. This quantitative, descriptive correlational study examined the perceptions of 99 students in grades sixth through twelfth in a public Midwestern school system regarding nursing as a career choice, 41 current students in the local community college’s nursing program, and recruiting methods that would or did most influence them. The framework for the study is Brian Hodge's Health Career Model. Students were surveyed using a Likert-scale tool with demographics and comments. Descriptive statistics included frequency tables, cross tabulations, chi squared, and confidence intervals. Comments were grouped for qualitative phenomenologic purposes. Findings indicated statistically significant differences in perceptions of students based on sex and grade which could be used to enhance recruitment efforts.

Research Questions

Specific research questions pertaining to this study are:

1. Are middle and high school students in a Midwestern community considering nursing as a career choice?
a. If so, what are the reasons?
b. If not, what are the reasons?
c. What recruitment strategies would most influence these students to decide on nursing as a career choice?
d. What recruitment strategies would most influence these students to seek their education at the Midwestern community college ADN program?

2. Of currently enrolled students in a Midwestern community college ADN program:
a. What recruitment strategies most influenced these students to decide on nursing as a career choice?
b. What recruitment strategies most influenced these students to seek their education at the Midwestern community college ADN program?

Theoretical Framework

The framework for this study is Brian Hodges’ Health Career Model (Hodges, 1997). This model looks at the nurse as an individual whose practice depends on his/her education and past experiences (Hodges, 1997). The model is composed of two intersecting lines that look at the nurse’s attributes both individually and in group settings, and his/her ability to perform job duties both interpersonal and mechanical (Hodges, 1997). Within the four quadrants then, Hodges identifies four major areas of knowledge necessary to practice nursing (Hodges, 1997).

This particular framework lends itself to this study as it looks at traits of individuals who are nurses and helps to explain how their background and knowledge influence the care they give. Hodges writes “the health career is influenced by personal factors of the individual of physical or psychological origin and factors relating to the social world and the policies that govern daily life” (Hodges, pp 1, 1997). Because some of these attributes or interest in these knowledge areas must be present in order for an individual to choose nursing, the model is appropriate to the study.