Predicting Purpose: An Examination of Early Predictors of Progression and Career Choice among First-Year Nursing Students

The importance of socializing upper level nursing students into the nursing profession is well established in the literature, but less is known about the early predictors of progression and career choice among first-year nursing students using a career development framework. Understanding early predictors of progression, particularly for first generation and underrepresented minority college students, have important implications for diversifying the baccalaureate-prepared nursing pipeline, as well as for developing future career and educational interventions for program completion and student retention. This study utilized a cross-sectional, correlational design to examine predictive factors of progression and career choice among freshmen nursing students. While the need to diversify the nursing workforce is ongoing, nursing schools must have an informed understanding of early progression barriers, their student demographics, and the career decision-making process in order to reduce nursing school and new nurse attrition