Abstract

America's population is aging. More than one in five Americans will be over 65 by 2030. These numbers are expected to challenge existing healthcare systems. The recruitment and retention of qualified, competent registered nurses (RNs) to care for this vulnerable population have become urgent. However, undergraduate baccalaureate nurses consistently report geriatric nursing as the least preferred clinical area to in work after graduation. To understand how graduating nurses discern their career intentions, a basic qualitative study was undertaken using Ajzen's theory of planned behavior as an underlying theoretical framework. The purpose of the study was to understand and interpret nursing students' experiences that are instrumental in their decision to choose gerontological nursing as a career upon graduation from nursing school. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten baccalaureate nursing students graduating from a nursing program recognized by the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence. Thematic analysis using dramaturgical coding was used to analyze the data. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) personal connections, (b) agency to care, and (c) educators' influence. Six key assertions interpreted from the data are discussed and provide an understanding of how nursing students perceive the needs of older adults and their care; and give insight into how they discern their career intention.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 30312851; ProQuest document ID: 2792176632. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Terri Murabito, PhD, MSN, MBA

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

N/A

Research Approach

Qualitative Research

Keywords:

Career Choices, Clinical Instruction, Nursing Students, Older Adults

Advisor

Janie Canty-Mitchell

Second Advisor

Michael Cosimano

Third Advisor

Carla Lane

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

Capella University

Degree Year

2023

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2023-05-24

Full Text of Presentation

wf_yes

Download

Share

COinS