Student and pupil nurses (64), from an initial sample of 117, completed repertory grids questionnaires and interviews on the first day of training, at 4 and 18 months. Measures of identification attraction and ideal/actual congruence were derived from the grids. Trainees were found to become more identified with and attracted to medical roles during training and less identified with and attracted to lower-status non-medical roles such as factory worker. Ideal/actual congruence with medical roles other than trainee also increased. Some measures derived from the grids related to trainee 'wastage' and to satisfaction with the hospital.

This paper presents some findings of a longitudinal study of nursing trainees in two British general hospitals concerning changes in attitudes to their work conditions, and compares the results with those of a cross-sectional study of the attitudes of trainees and qualified staff in the same two hospitals. Supporting the findings of previous research, the longitudinal study suggested that trainees become less attracted to work conditions during the course of training, and the cross-sectional study suggested that these changes would probably be reversed if and when trainees were taken on as qualified nurses. Since the widest gaps in attitudes between qualified staff and trainees reflected trainees' more unfavourable attitudes towards their influence over work tasks, opportunities to voice criticisms and to voice opinions, the findings are seen as evidence of a status gap between trainees' expected and achieved work autonomy.

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