Abstract
While the demographics of nursing students are well documented, the role that family members and partners play in both recruitment to nursing school and post-graduation plans are not as well known. We posted a web-based survey on the Internet at the beginning of the 2010 fall semester and provided the open-access URL (web address) to deans of all nursing programs in Mississippi who were asked to forward it to their student population. Total responses to the survey were 1,008, and the response rate among the participating nursing student population was 22 % in this convenience sample. We found that 88 % were female and 75 % were white. When asked about family influences, 38 % said that a family member or close friend influenced them to enter the health care profession. Of those, 53 % cited their mother, stepmother, or mother-in-law as influencing their career decision. With an eye toward consideration of post-graduation plans, we found that 66 % are married or in a relationship. More than half (56 %) of those in the subset of “in a relationship or married” would consult/negotiate with their spouse or partner before choosing job location, 33 % of the nursing graduates would be the leading spouse and 6 % report that their practice location would be dependent upon where their partner/spouse’s career takes them. Thus, family and partner relationships may influence both the decision to enter the profession and post-graduation plans.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Baggot, D. M., Dawson, C., Valdes, M. S., & Zaim, S. (2005). Rethinking nurse recruitment: A return-on-investment approach. Journal of Nursing Administration, 35(10), 424–427.
Costa, A. J., Schrop, S. L., McCord, G., & Gillanders, W. R. (1996). To stay or not to stay: Factors influencing family practice residents’ choice of initial practice location. Family Medicine, 28(3), 214–219.
Curran, C. R. (2003). Nurse recruitment: A waste of postage, paper and people. Nursing Economics, 21(1), 32.
Jones, C. B. (2005). The costs of nurse turnover, Part 2. Journal of Nursing Administration, 35(1), 41–49.
Kalisch, B. J. (2003). Recruiting nurses. Journal of Nursing Administration, 33(9), 468–477.
Mississippi Office of Nursing Workforce. (2009) Hospital RN vacancy rates (%) by public health district. Available at: http://www.monw.org/research/hospital/2009/2009%20Hospital%20RN%20Vacancy%20by%20PHD.pdf. Accessed 6 June 2013.
Mississippi Office of Nursing Workforce. (2013). Main website. Available at: http://www.monw.org/. Accessed 6 June 2013.
Tone, B. (1999) Looking for a job? Think about moving to the country. NurseWeek [serial online].
Upenieks, V. (2003). Recruitment and retention strategies: A magnet hospital prevention model. Nursing Economics, 21(1), 7–13, 23.
Wall, L. L. (1988). Plan development for a nurse recruitment-retention program. Journal of Nursing Administration, 18(2), 20–26.
Zina, M. D., VanLeit, B. J., Skipper, B. J., Sanders, M. L., & Rhyne, R. L. (2007). Factors in recruiting and retaining health professionals for rural practice. The Journal of Rural Health, 23(1), 62–71.
Funding Acknowledgement
This research was funded by the Dreyfus Health Foundation, as part of a grant awarded to Dreyfus by the Kellogg Foundation. The findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Dreyfus Health Foundation or the Kellogg Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cossman, R., Cossman, J., Mason, P. (2015). Demographic Attributes of Mississippi Nursing Students and Family Influences. In: Hoque, M., B. Potter, L. (eds) Emerging Techniques in Applied Demography. Applied Demography Series, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8990-5_23
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8990-5_23
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-8989-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-8990-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)