Registered nurses with nursing and non-nursing baccalaureate degrees, the motivational orientation and employment status

This study examined relationships between reasons given by 272 registered nurses in Nebraska for completing a baccalaureate degree. The sample consisted of one group of nurses who had completed a degree in nursing and one group of nurses who had completed a baccalaureate degree in another discipline. Responses of the two groups were compared to determine underlying reasons to pursue their education and to compare their employment characteristics (present employment setting, employment setting preferred for future employment, present functional nursing role and functional role expected in future employment). The study instrument consisted of Boshier\u27s Educational Participation Scale and a personal data sheet. Responses to the E.P.S. were scored ranging from one, no influence, to seven, much influence. Responses to the 40-item E.P.S. were factor analyzed resulting in the six constructs proposed by Boshier and were labelled: Cognitive Interest, Professional Advancement, Community Service, Social Contact External Expectations, and Social Stimulation. Mean Factor scores were calculated for each group of respondents and compared. Having the greatest influence on those respondents who had completed a non-nursing degree was the Cognitive Interest dimension (X = 5.09) followed by the Professional Advancement dimension (X = 4.37). The order of importance was reversed for those respondents who had completed a nursing degree where the Professional Advancement mean factor score was 4.87 and the Cognitive Interest mean factor score was 4.77. Reasons related to Community Service were third in order of importance for each group. The remaining factors had little to very little influence. External Expectations emerged as the fourth most important factor, Social Contact was the fifth most important factor and Social Stimulation was the least important factor for both groups of respondents. A two-tailed t test was used to explore relationships between the type of baccalaureate degree completed and employment variables. No significant relationships were found. Study findings suggest that the most important reasons for the registered nurse respondent to pursue a non-nursing baccalaureate degree was to seek knowledge for its own sake, and the most important reason for the respondents to pursue a nursing degree was to advance professionally. Despite the differences in reasons for nurses to complete a degree, the type of baccalaureate degree completed had no significant influence on subsequent employment characteristics