Nurses' Attitudes Towards Continuing Education

Abstract

A ·study of nurses' . attitudes ~award continuing ~ducation w~s ' . conducted to de~ennine .if nurses .t:hink. ~t .participatiOn_ is nece.ssary ' ' - . . . for responsible professio~l practicer. the influence of ~datocy cori-: ·, . ·_ tinuing education requirements on attitUd~s·; the reia~i.onship· b~twe~·" higher acaderriic e~ation · and attitudes; and. to id~ti~ pe~soruil ~d. employrreilt facto~s that influence attitudes toward and __ partic-ipation in- continl,ling education . activities-. 1 · ... - ----~--.-- ----- A descriptive ~ey de~ii?;n usi.Tig a 45·. item -~strurnent sampled · opinions of·registered nurse subjects practicing in 2 selected hos- . ·I· , pitals in 2 southern states; one state . requires mar:tdatory Gohtinuing education for relicensure, one state do~s not. ·A total of .. 200 questionnaires were distributed; 104 completed· questi~r-es, ~er~--.~ eturned by U.S. Mail. Data were analyzed uslnK Sta~istical. ]?ackage for Social Sciences. ·'!he statistical ·tests utilized. were ~lysls· of variance and Pearson Product Moment Correlations. . . Fin~gs indicated that these-registered nurses ·expressed·positive -. . . ~ attitudes toward continuing education· and value participation in order to maintain professional knowledge· and compet~ce. . Negative _attitudes were eXpressed t~ard the ANA. ~f~tion of con~inw_ng· _eduCation, which excludes learning activities for which academic credit is given. No . . ' significant relationship . was found between . attitudes toward _c_?1:1tinulpg · education and mandatory requirements~ Subjects ··frOm. both states eXpressed positive attitudes toward continuing ·education, but negative _at:~ituc1es toward mandatory requirements. . Positive. attitudes were· express~d toward iii. shared responsibility of the nurse and the employer for time and costs of continuing education activities for nurses. Attitude toward continuing education was not shown to be. related to basic educational preparation for nursing . or highest level of educational atta.irnn:mt . . Significant relationships were found between attitude toward continuing education and ·age, position title, and .membership it+ a professional nursing associat~on. .