An examination of the career decision-making self-efficacy of final-year nursing students.

BACKGROUND: One in four newly graduated registered nurses leave their employment positions within the first year. To reduce this attrition, nursing stakeholders could focus on the final year of nursing education because students at this stage make professional career plans, including their practice destination for the graduate year and their commitment to the profession. Previous studies provide evidence of nursing students' career preferences and specialty choices. However, there is a dearth of data that focuses on the students' career decision-making process. AIM: This study examined the self-efficacy or confidence of final-year nursing students in making career decisions and the factors that influence their career decision-making process. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Final year pre-registration nursing students (N = 222) at two public universities in Western Australia. METHODS: An online survey was used to collect cross-sectional data. The Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale - Short Form was used to investigate nursing students' confidence in making career decisions. Career decision-making self-efficacy refers to the confidence to successfully complete career decision-making tasks. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the participants' characteristics. The chi-square test was used to assess the significance of the difference between categorical data, and binary logistic regression was used to determine the odds of the factors that predict career decision self-efficacy. RESULTS: Forty-seven percent of participants who answered all Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale - Short Form questions had good confidence in making career decisions. Factors such as the setting of the final clinical placement, the intention to be employed in the specialisation or organisation of their final placement and the students' assessment of their clinical experience were associated with career decision-making confidence. CONCLUSIONS: Most participants had low confidence in making career decisions. This study provides ideas for nursing stakeholders to implement measures to improve students' confidence to make informed career decisions.

The impact of final-year clinical placements on nursing students' career planning for the graduate year and beyond.

AIMS: This study had three objectives: 1) to determine final-year nursing students' career preferences and long-term career plans; 2) to investigate factors influencing nursing students' specialty choices following their final-year clinical placement(s); and 3) to understand how final-year clinical placements can be used to develop the career interests of nursing students to different nursing specialties. BACKGROUND: Clinical placement provides an insightful experience that may influence students to feel inclined to work in certain specialties. Therefore, each clinical placement should promote students' learning and enhance positive experiences that could develop their career interests and encourage them to seek employment in the specialty on graduation. DESIGN: A cross-sectional online survey. METHODS: The survey was structured using the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale - Short Form. The questionnaire was distributed to final-year nursing students (N = 222) at two public universities in Western Australia. This study specifically reports on the Goal selection and Planning domains of the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale - Short Form, which were explored through additional questions prompting participants to explain their career preferences and reasons for their nursing specialty choices. RESULTS: Most participants, fifty-three percent, had low confidence in making career decisions. The Goal Selection and Planning questions measured the students' confidence in choosing a suitable practice destination and preparing for their professional careers. Overall, participants prefer employment in hospital settings both in the short- and long-term aspects of their nursing career. The factors influencing the students' career decisions were classified into three main categories: the clinical environment, educational factors and individual factors. CONCLUSIONS: The nursing curriculum may encourage nursing students to work in some specialties over others. This study provides insight into factors that may promote or inhibit students' career choices and how students may be motivated to pursue the less preferred nursing specialties.