Joumal of Advanced Nursing, 1990,15,1099-H05 Characteristics of students entering different forms of nurse training Michael Murray BSc PhD CPsychol Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology and Mary Qiambers SRN DipN BEd Senior Lecturer, Department of Nurstng artd Health Vtstting, University of Ulster, Londonderry, Northem Ireland Accepted for publication 16 January 1990 MURRAY M & CHAMBERS M (1990) Joumal of Advanced Nursmg 15,1099- 1105 Characteristics of students entering dififerent forms of nurse training Developments m nurse trainmg need to be based upon an understandmg of the charactenstics and aspirations of students In this study, charactenstics of a sample of registered nurses {n = 27) and students (« = 41) entenng an undergraduate degree programme m nursing were compared with those of student nurses (« = 46) beginnmg trammg in a college of nursing It was found that the three groups differed m terms of their soaal background, their reasons for becommg a nurse, their views on nursmg, their perceived soaal competence and their views on the role of the nurse vis-a-vis the dcx:tor Certam sex and soaal class differences were also apparent The fmdmgs are discussed with reference to the selection of students for different forms of trainmg and the content of current nurse trainmg programmes INTRODUCTION college — the better can an mshtution formulate and evaluate its ftoliaes, programs, and procedures Twenty-five years ago, Dustan (1964) compared students entenng different nurse traming programmes m Cahfomia ^he sihaahon m the Umted Kmgdom today is sumlar In reviewmg the background to that shidy, she commented ^° ^^^ ^^"^^^ ^y ^"^^^ (^ 964) The number of apph- M . cants for nurse trammg is falhng Coupled with this is the development of new nurse trammg programmes m par- with msuffiaent enrollers m its schools to meet soaety's needs hcular there is the growth of undergraduate degree pro- for nurses, and with lru^easmg demands for mdividuals with grammes m nursmg In this situation, there is a need to advanced educational preparation, nursing must concem itself ensure that potential nurses are choosmg the correct form with how effectively shidents may be enabled to choose the of tranii^ In addition, there is a need to identify what type of program best suited to their mterests, abihhes, and jramees thmk of themselves and nursmg so that future potenhal as f^hire practitioners aimculum development can be more appropnately She also referred to an earlier report by Brumbough (1960) P ^^ orir . ., , , , ., ,, ,.,..,,, '^ This paper presents the fmdmgs trom a study wtuch which stated that . . j . n j . i . compared students enrolled on a typical nurse traming Hie more that is known about shidents — their charactenstics, programme with those who were takmg a degree m nurs- tfwir expenences, thar sucxesses aid failures, both in and after mg In addihon, it compared both these groups of students J fv .^ i^ rv_. .^ » f n_ J. I i> i. t,tt^ with a third group of registered nurses who had enrolled on Lorrt^Hndaat Dr M Murray, Depgrbneti of Psydaiogy, Umversity of Ulster o -r o viag« CMge Londonderry BT4S 7JL Nwfibra bdaad. the nursu^ degree programme 1099