PERCEPTIONS OF FIRST AND LAST YEAR NURSING BACHELOR STUDENTS ABOUT THEIR OWN PROFESSION: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Nursing has considerable progresses towards becoming professional in recent
decades in comparison with previous decades. It seems that researches on nursing students perceptions
about nursing profession at first and at the end of their education in our country(Iran) ins’t enough. So
this study was conducted with the aim of describing the nature of first and last year nursing bachelor
students about their own profession.
Materials & Methods: This study is a qualitative one, and the participants of this study were 20
nursing students who were in the first and last year of their education in bachelor degree. Sampling
method was purposeful. The data were collected and analyzed (content analysis) simultaneously. After
explaining the aim of research to the participants, and taking written consent and keeping the record of
interviews, unstructured interview was used to gather the data.
Results: In the current study, conceptual domains of bachelor’s degree students about this profession
included: “The nature of nursing (knowledge/ job)”, “The profession’s social status” and
“Actually/delivering nursing (nursing administering)”. The student were fully aware and close to
nursing reality in their last year. Another classification as “effective (positive /negative) factors on
nursing student’s perceptions about their own profession” were recognized as well.
Conclusion: According to findings of this study, it seems that some interventions must be conducted
in order to assess and inform students about their profession in three dimensions of profession
concerning factors which are affecting their perceptions