Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Attitudes Toward Mental Illness and Psychiatric Nursing as a Career Choice

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the attitudes of undergraduate nursing students toward mental illness, and the interest in choosing psychiatric nursing as a desirable career choice. Methodology: A nonexperimental descriptive study design was chosen for this study. Sample size of 18 undergraduate nursing students participated in the self-reported survey, The Mental Health Nursing Education Survey (MHNES) Part 2. This survey has 43-items that report the attitudes and beliefs toward people diagnosed with mental illness and towards mental health nursing and scored on a 7-point Likert Scale. Findings: Data reported from the survey report that the nursing students have a foundation of knowledge of mental illness and the role of the psychiatric nurse. The students also report a positive experience during their psychiatric clinical. The students report a negative attitude toward mental illness and have a disinterest in pursuing a career as a psychiatric/mental health nurse. Conclusion: The results from this study report the need for increase need for psychiatric/mental health nurses. The factors of attitudes that undergraduate nursing students have toward mental illness and mental health nursing can be affected by their clinical experience