A National Qualitative Study of Work-Life Balance in Prelicensure Nursing Faculty.

AIM: This study explored how full-time, prelicensure baccalaureate nursing faculty members described their experiences with work-life balance. BACKGROUND: With increasing shortages of nursing faculty and practicing nurses, schools of nursing are developing faculty recruitment and retention efforts. It is imperative to understand the experiences of nursing faculty with regard to balancing their work and personal lives. METHOD: A web-based survey including two open-ended questions related to work-life balance was disseminated to deans of nursing programs, who disseminated the survey to nursing faculty. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The sample (n = 320) was representative of current nursing faculty demographics. Three themes emerged: Relationship With Administration, Nursing Faculty Workload, and Boundary Setting. Opposing subthemes were noted in each theme. CONCLUSION: Administrators may use the findings from this study to create administrator and faculty development opportunities and mentorship programs that promote work-life balance of nursing faculty.

Factors Associated With Changes in Patient-Centered Care in Undergraduate Nursing Students.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to examine active listening, self-awareness, and empathy and how they relate to changes in patient-centered care (PCC) in undergraduate nursing students. BACKGROUND: PCC is associated with better patient outcomes, but the level of PCC has been found to be low in nursing students. METHOD: This secondary analysis used baseline and follow-up data at two time points from 50 undergraduate nursing students. RESULTS: Changes in self-awareness were associated with changes in PCC directly (Follow-Up 1) or directly and indirectly through the effects on changes in empathy (Follow-Up 2), controlling for age, experience, and intervention. Changes in active listening were associated with changes in PCC only indirectly through the effect on changes in empathy only at Follow-Up 2. CONCLUSION: Changes in self-awareness and active listening need to be the first targets of interventions to improve PCC in undergraduate nursing students.

An instrument assessing attitudes and beliefs toward human papillomavirus vaccination.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties of a brief attitudes and beliefs toward human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination instrument in college students. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, observational study. SAMPLE: Eighty-six nursing students. MEASUREMENTS: The Attitudes and Beliefs Toward Human Papillomavirus Vaccination was used to test the reliability (Cronbach's alpha), homogeneity (item-analyses), and validity (factor analysis and correlations). RESULTS: The reliability of this 8-item instrument was supported by a Cronbach's alpha of .854. Item homogeneity was supported by coefficients for all items > .30. Convergent validity was supported by significant correlations of attitudes and beliefs assessed by this instrument to attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control assessed by different instruments (all ps < .001). Construct validity was supported by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (all factor loadings ≥ .40). Predictive validity was supported by a significant relationship of attitudes and beliefs to completion of the vaccination (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The Attitudes and Beliefs Toward Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Questionnaire was a reliable and valid instrument. This short instrument can be used to assess and improve attitudes and beliefs toward HPV vaccination, and, in turn, to facilitate the completion of the vaccination.

Factors Associated with Human Papillomavirus Vaccination and the Intention among Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional, Correlational Study.

PURPOSE: To examine factors associated with overall human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination status, completion of HPV vaccination, and intention to receive vaccination among nursing students. DESIGN: A Cross-sectional, correlational study. METHODS: Data from 86 students were analyzed using logistic and multiple regression. FINDINGS: Among knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, and recommendation, more positive attitudes and beliefs were the only factors associated with initiation and/or completion of HPV vaccination and the intention to receive HPV vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: More positive attitudes and beliefs need to be enhanced for HPV vaccination. CLINICAL EVIDENCE: Changes in attitudes and beliefs can be important targets of interventions to increase HPV vaccination.

Factors associated with utilization of student-centered pedagogy by nurse educators.

BACKGROUND: Despite suboptimal level of the utilization of student-centered pedagogy, multidimensional, modifiable factors associated with the utilization have been rarely examined among nurse educators. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the utilization status of student-centered pedagogy and factors associated with the utilization by nurse educators. METHODS: Data on student-centered pedagogy utilization, knowledge, beliefs in effectiveness, stress, coping, support, degree earned, teaching experiences, and other demographic characteristics were analyzed using multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: The status of the student-centered pedagogy utilization was moderate, and knowledge was consistently associated with the utilization in the total sample (N = 108) and in both subgroups (≤50 vs. >50 years old). Beliefs in effectiveness were associated with the utilization only in the age > 50 years old group. CONCLUSIONS: Nurse educators need to develop and deliver interventions to facilitate the utilization of student-centered pedagogy through increase in knowledge and beliefs in effectiveness of student-centered pedagogy.

Career persistence in baccalaureate-prepared acute care nurses.

PURPOSE: To explain how baccalaureate-prepared acute care nurses understand, adapt to, and negotiate challenge and change in acute care settings in the context of social and structural features and consequently develop career persistence there. DESIGN: Grounded theory method based on the research of Strauss and Corbin. METHODS: A research team conducted open-ended interviews with a theoretic sample of 19 new and experienced baccalaureate-prepared (BSN) nurses in the southeast United States during 2007 and 2008 until saturation was achieved. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Constant comparative method was used to analyze data to three increasingly abstract levels culminating in theory emergence. A diagram was developed to better understand relationships and processes. FINDINGS: A central category, building professional resilience, emerged as the central social process with three core processes of verifying fit, stage setting, and optimizing the environment contributing to career persistence in acute care. Core processes include skills and practices nurses have learned to negotiate changing acute care environments while sustaining patient advocacy. Definitions, properties, and dimensions of each were established. CONCLUSIONS: The study offers a systematic framework for understanding and promoting career persistence for acute care nurses. Findings broaden theories of resilience to the unique settings of acute care nursing and further extend theoretical understanding of the nursing shortage and market issues of supply and demand. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: A middle range theory of professional resilience and career persistence makes visible skills and practices acute-care nurses use to weather continuous change and challenge in health care. Teachable practices can be integrated into nursing education and staff development to improve professional career longevity of experienced nurses at the bedside.

Professional resilience in baccalaureate-prepared acute care nurses: first steps.

New nurses typically begin their practice in acute care settings in hospitals, where their work is characterized by time constraints, high safety risks for patients, and layers of complexity and difficult problems. Retention of experienced nurses is an issue central to patient safety. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the nature of professional resilience in new baccalaureate-prepared nurses in acute care settings and to extrapolate pedagogical strategies that can be developed to support resilience and career longevity. Findings revealed a common process of evolving resilience among participants. New nurses spend a significant amount of time learning their place in the social structure. With positive experiences, they begin to feel more competent with skills and relationships and become increasingly aware of discrepancies between their ideas of professional nursing and their actual experiences in the work setting. The risk of new nurses leaving their practice is constantly present during these struggles. Acceptable compromises yield a reconciliation of the current crisis, typically occurring long after formal precepting has ended. Personal growth is evident by the evolving clarity of professional identity, an edifying sense of purpose, and energy resources to move forward. For new nurses, professional resilience yields the capacity for self-protection, risk taking, and moving forward with reflective knowledge of self.