Pre-licensure Baccalaureate nursing students' career choice goal for a future faculty role and graduate education: adaptation and testing of social cognitive career theory.
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Date
2011
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Authors
Bond, Diana K.
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Publisher
East Carolina University
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to adapt and test the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to (1) determine the intent of pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students for a future faculty role and graduate education, and (2) investigate how well derived SCCT constructs predict intent for a future faculty role and graduate education. Walker and Avant's theory derivation procedures guided the adaptation of SCCT to the profession of nursing. A prospective correlational research design was used with a convenience sample of 1,078 pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students who responded to an online survey. Almost 25% of the study sample reported high/very high intent to pursue a future faculty role and 76% expressed high/very high intent for graduate education. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the full SCCT model with eleven independent variables was partially supported to predict students' high intent to pursue a future faculty role. The high intent students were significantly more likely to (1) have interests in the activities/tasks of a faculty role; (2) be enrolled in an accelerated baccalaureate nursing program; (3) perceive the advantages in a faculty role; (4) have previous teaching experiences; (5) have received encouragement from faculty to pursue a faculty role; and 6) perceive few disadvantages of a faculty role. In contrast, the students' age, gender, race/ethnicity, parent education and occupation, educational level and background, supports and barriers, self-efficacy for a faculty role, and role modeling by a faculty member did not significantly impact their intent for a future faculty role. Furthermore, the logistic regression analysis indicated that the SCCT model was partially supported to predict students' intent to pursue graduate education, accounting for 26.2% to 39.4% of the variance. This study offered several unique findings. It was the first study to expand and adapt SCCT theory to understand how undergraduate nursing students perceived a future nursing faculty role and graduate education. The measures demonstrated good reliability overall, providing a solid foundation for future research on this topic. The knowledge gained in this study could be used to develop and test effective strategies to interest students in a future nursing faculty role and graduate education.