The Dar-es-salaam Medical Students’ Journal - DMSJ September 2010
IMAGE OF NURSING PROFESSION AS VIEWED BY SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ILALA DISTRICT, DAR ES SALAAM
BY KIWANUKA ACHILLES, School of Nursing, 2009.
ABSTRACT Objectives: The Broad objective: To assess knowledge and attitudes of secondary school students in Ilala district towards the nursing profession Specific objectives: To determine the awareness of nursing as a profession by secondary school students in Ilala district, explore factors that promote aspiration to enroll in nursing schools and to explore factors that deter aspiration to enroll in nursing schools. Methods: The study was exploratory cross sectional using both ...view middle of the document...
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The Dar-es-salaam Medical Students’ Journal - DMSJ September 2010
INTRODUCTION Nursing is as old as human life itself; however the shortage of nurses is not a recent phenomenon, nor one restricted to a specific geographical location. The profession is said to have long suffered from public stereotyping and from being closely associated with femininity and powerlessness. The time has never been better for nurses to reach out to the public to change certain perceptions about nursing .Various people have different understandings of the nursing profession based on prior events in their lives since perceptions are subjective. Perceptions of advanced secondary school students of nursing are important because they offer strategic clues towards successful recruitment of the next generation of nurses. To attract more individuals to the profession, a positive image of nursing needs to be engendered by nurse education and the general community. Attitudes, beliefs, and values are highly subjective areas, usually based upon perception and not fact. Perceptions held by the public about the nursing profession greatly influence the personal and public image of nursing. The perception of nurses being not as professional as the other professions should be highly fought by all members of the profession with the aim of establishing professional uniqueness. The role of gender in the choice of a career is an extremely important concept, because men constitute nearly half of the potential recruitment pool. Noticing a male nurse being ridiculed would deter boys to think of a nursing career. Nursing schools have to recruit and retain qualified applicants in order to confront the current challenge to nursing resources. Although academic excellence should be recognized and is important, recognition is needed of the student who demonstrates potential and who can bring much contribution to nursing education and the health care system in the form of critical thinking, creativity, responsibility and accountability.
Many strategies are needed by nursing organizations, administrators and the government to address the critical issues of this profession with the goal of reducing the nursing shortage through increased recruitment and retention of practicing nursing. METHODOLOGY STUDY DESIGN The study was exploratory cross-sectional among secondary students of Azania and Jangwani secondary schools in Ilala district Dar es Salaam using both qualitative and quantitative methods. SAMPLING Convenience sampling was used at the first stage. Here the secondary schools for the study were chosen which included; Azania and Jangwani secondary schools. Secondly, multistage sampling was used. From a list of classes in each school i.e. form 3 to form 6; the researcher randomly selected two classes. One randomly selected class was in ordinary level i.e. form 3 or form 4 while the other class was in the advanced level i.e. form 5 or form 6. Finally, all students in the sampled classes who were...
