Change in students' perception of profession during nursing education in Turkey: A longitudinal study

Background: Progress in the nursing is only possible with nursing students who graduate with sufficient information and comprehension about their professions. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate nursing students’ professional perceptions during 4-year undergraduate nursing program and to determine whether changes occur in this time frame Desing and Methods: This study was designed as a longitudinal cohort survey research. Data were collected over a four -year period. The study sample was constituted of 137 undergraduate nursing students attending two Schools of Health located in the western Turkey. In this study, data were collected using the Information Form which was prepared by the investigators and the Perception of Nursing Profession Scale (PNPS). Results: Students’ PNPS mean scores were identified as 85.24±11.66 for Time 1, 86.86±12.37 for Time 2, 86.43±13.39 for Time 3, 86.32±15.12 for Time 4 and 90.76±13.16 for Time 5. No statistically significant differences were found in perception of nursing profession mean scores during nursing education (p>0.05). Statistically meaningful differences were detected among students’ “Professional Qualities” sub scale mean scores (p0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that freshmen students perceived the nursing profession rather positively and that influence continued throughout their education. It was identified that initial positive perceptions of students progressively increased at the end of 2nd and 4th years. It was determined that students positively perceived the professional status of nursing and that the significant perceptions continued throughout their education