THE INFLUENCE OF NURSING INSTRUCTORS ON THE INTERVENTION CHOICES OF THEIR STUDENTS
Abstract
The influence of the clinical instructor on the intervention choices of the students, and whether that influence is affected by the cognitive style of the students and instructors, or by the perceptions of the instructor of the potential of the student, was explored. The hypotheses for this study were: (1) The student choices of nursing interventions on the Pediatric Nursing Intervention Priorities Survey (PNIPS) will be more like his or her clinical instructor's choices after a pediatric clinical rotation than before that rotation. (2) The choices of nursing interventions on the PNIPS of field dependent nursing students are the same as those of field independent nursing students. (3) The students who match their instructors in cognitive style as measured by the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) will have lower scores on the PNIPS than those students who do not match the instructor's cognitive style. (4) Age, year in school, previous nursing experience, sex, marital status, length of clinical rotation, and number of children are not associated with student choices on the PNIPS. (5) Instructor perception of student's potential as a nurse will be the same at the beginning and end of the clinical rotation. (6) Instructor perception of student's potential as a nurse will not affect student choices on the PNIPS. Six pediatric nursing instructors and 42 nursing students from 4 baccalaureate nursing programs in southeastern Wisconsin participated in the study. The Pediatric Nursing Intervention Priorities Survey, the Group Embedded Figures Test and a demographic questionnaire were filled out by all participants in the study. In addition the instructors filled out an Instructors Perception of Students Potential form. All subjects responded to the PNIPS at the beginning and again at the end of an inpatient pediatric clinical experience. An analysis of how the students ranked intervention choices as compared to the instructor was done. Cognitive style and instructor's perception of the student were analyzed to see if they affected the ranks on the PNIPS. Findings of the study indicated that the students make choices more like their instructors at the end of an experience with the instructor. Significant differences were found when age and "having above average" potential as a nurse were analyzed. No other significant differences were found.
This paper has been withdrawn.