Impact of bachelor of science in nursing curriculum implementation on student`s attitudes towards the nursing profession in Kenyan universities

Abstract

Attitude toward nursing has been linked to students’ decisions to enter nurse training and their decision to continue or withdraw from the nursing profession. Nursing education and training plays an important role in the production of well-trained nurse with the right attitude. Student nurses undergo various experiences during their training. These include both curriculum stipulated and extracurricular activities. Nurse training should shape and strengthen the students’ positive attitude towards nursing which in turn contribute to improved nursing care. Certain studies have indicated that a great number of Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) graduates do not want to practice the actual nursing (hands on practice). This is a great concern because a lot of efforts and resources go along with their training. This study aimed at analyzing the attitudes of nursing students at the beginning and at the end of their training in order to determine the impact of the nurse training curriculum implementation on attitudes towards the nursing profession in order to recommend improvement. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected through analytical Cross-sectional study design. The main study sites were Kenyan Nurse training public universities. A random sampling was done to get 162 nurse students as the respondents. 71.6% of these were first years while the remaining 28.4% were final/fourth year BScN students. Data was also collected from three key informants. From the student respondents, six focus groups discussions were conducted. The study instruments comprised of structured questionnaire, attitude scales, focus group discussion guides and key informant interviews.