Attitude on nursing profession and the associated factors among the nursing students at the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Jaffna and College of nursing, Jaffna

Abstract

Introduction: Nursing is one of the honorable professions in the world and nursing education is becoming more demanding each day. Attitude is directly involved in choosing the nursing profession and the quality of the nursing profession. Objective: The study aimed to assess the attitudes towards the nursing profession and the factors that influence on it among nursing students. Methodology: An institutional-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the 323 nursing students who were studying at the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Jaffna, and College of Nursing, Jaffna. The data were collected by a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed by using IBM SPSS 25.0. The chi-square test was used to analyze the factors' influence on attitude of the participants. Results: The mean age was 24.28 years, Female and male ratio was 3:1. Majority of the participants stated that they do not have any gender-based preference to choose nursing as their career (96.6%). Most of the students stated that they chose nursing due to their interest and to improve their financial status. The majority (55.9%) indicated that creating a good nurse-patient relationship is the major characteristic needed for a successful nurse. Also, they mentioned this relationship should be in a professional way with sympathy. The major responsibilities of the nurse mentioned by many (93.1%) are caring for the patient, helping in patients’ recovery and maintaining their legal rights regarding their privacy, confidentiality, and psychological support. Half of them did not have a good opinion on going out of the workplace in uniform. There was a statistically significant association between participants' attitudes on the nursing profession and participants’ gender, age, and their father’s education level. Conclusion: The majority of the participants had a good attitude toward the nursing profession. Participants’ gender, age, and their father’s education level were statistically significant associations on participants' attitudes towards the nursing profession.