Authors: Krista L. Nelson, Ali Hollingsworth Wilkerson, Deborah Wilson.
This study examined specific variables that are impactful on the decision for college undergraduate students to choose to major within the field of nursing. Variables included in this investigation were academic motivation, self- efficacy, fear of failure, and the imposter Phenomenon. This research studied how these variables have impacted undergraduate nursing students during their academic career at a small public university in the southern United States. There were a total of 115 (N=115) students who participated in the study. There were 53 (46.1%) pre-nursing majors, who are identified as students who had not yet been accepted into the university nursing program. The remaining 62 (53.9%) participants were nursing majors, which are students already admitted into the university nursing program. Of the 115 participants, 101 (90.2%) were females and 11 (9.8%) were males. Data analysis found that pre-nursing majors experience fear of failure and the Imposter Phenomenon more frequently than do nursing majors. However, nursing majors have higher academic motivation than pre-nursing majors. There was no significant difference between the two majors when it came to the self-efficacy factor. Overall, these results assist in better understanding some of the reasons students choose to major within the field of nursing.
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