Why here and why stay? Students' voices on the retention strategies of a widening participation university.

BACKGROUND: Whilst concern about nursing student retention remains a key priority of governments and educators, much research is focussed on determining the causes and experiences of withdrawal. Further work is required to understand the perspectives of those students who successfully negotiate their programme of study. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to explore student motivations, experiences and support requirements during their first year to determine the efficacy of institutional retention initiatives. DESIGN: Qualitative data collection through focus groups at two intervals in the year. SETTINGS: University class rooms. PARTICIPANTS: 46 first year nursing and midwifery students. METHODS: After collection, the data was subjected to grounded theory-driven coding and thematic analysis. Coding was undertaken independently before mutual verification and theming took place. RESULTS: Students utilise a range of support mechanisms before and during their studies in order to maintain their motivation and to juggle the many demands on their time. These include university staff, fellow students, friends and family and those they currently know within the profession. CONCLUSIONS: Expectations play a significant role in student satisfaction, suggesting that institutions should ensure prospective students have a realistic understanding of what a nursing/midwifery programme and career will entail. Nurturing a sense of belonging to both the university and profession appears beneficial in promoting retention.

Developing a national computerised absence monitoring and management system to reduce nursing student attrition: evaluation of staff and student perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Reducing avoidable nursing student attrition is an international challenge. A pattern of falling attendance is recognised as a frequent precursor to withdrawal from nursing programmes. To address concerns regarding nursing student attrition, the Scottish Government implemented a pilot project for a centralised Computerised Absence Management and Monitoring System (CAMMS). The CAMMS adopted an 'assertive outreach' approach, contacting students every two weeks via colour coded letters to tell them whether their attendance was 'excellent', 'good, but potentially causing concern'; or 'warning; attendance concerns/contact academic staff for support'. This article reports key findings from an evaluation of CAMMS. OBJECTIVES: To explore the perceived impact of CAMMS on student support and attrition, from the perspectives of academic and administrative staff and students. DESIGN: Mixed methods evaluation design. SETTINGS: Three large geographically dispersed Schools of Nursing in Scotland. PARTICIPANTS: 83 students; 20 academic staff; and 3 lead administrators. METHODS: On-line cohort survey of academic staff and students; structured interviews with lead administrators. RESULTS: Findings reflected a spectrum of negative and positive views of CAMMS. Students who are attending regularly seem pleased that their commitment is recognised. Lecturers who teach larger groups report greater difficulty getting to know students individually and acknowledge the benefit of identifying potential attendance concerns at an early stage. Conversely, some students who received a 'warning' letter were frequently annoyed or irritated, rather than feeling supported. Increased staff workload resulted in negative perceptions and a consequent reluctance to use CAMMS. However, students who were causing concern reported subsequent improvement in attendance. CONCLUSIONS: CAMMS has the potential to identify 'at-risk' students at an early stage; however, the system should have flexibility to tailor automatically generated letters in response to individual circumstances, to avoid student frustration. Further research on the longer term impact of CAMMS on attrition rates is warranted.