Native American High School Students' Perceptions of Nursing

Abstract

<h4>ABSTRACT</h4> <P>A pilot study was conducted to determine changes in Native American high school students’ knowledge and opinions about nursing after attending a 6-day residential summer nursing institute. To date, Native American high school students, particularly those interested in nursing, have not been well researched. Seventeen high school students affiliated with nine Northwest tribes participated in this study. A 66-item, investigator-constructed, pretest-posttest survey included 38 scaled (4-point Likert type) and 20 dichotomous items. Reliability estimates (Cronbach’s alpha) were 0.72 and 0.85 for the pretest and posttest, respectively. This pilot study showed an increase in students’ knowledge and opinions of professionalism, autonomy, and role importance in nursing after attending the summer nursing institute. A salient and culturally related reason for choosing nursing was to be important to one’s tribe. Although the sample was small, the findings provide initial evidence supporting the effectiveness of a nursing education intervention with Native American high school students and an instrument that can measure its success. </P> <h4>AUTHOR</h4> <P>Received: March 16, 2005</P> <P>Accepted: September 30, 2005</P> <P>Dr. Katz is Assistant Professor, Washington State University, Intercollegiate College of Nursing, Spokane, Washington. </P> <P>Address correspondence to Janet R. Katz, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor, Washington State University, Intercollegiate College of Nursing, 2917 West Fort George Wright Drive, Spokane, WA 99224; e-mail: <a href="mailto:jkatz@wsu.edu">jkatz@wsu.edu</a>. </P>

Measurement of Students’ Perceptions of Nursing as a Career

“…Of the 10 studies, only Hoke (2006) identified and devoted a section of the paper to explaining the application of two theories: the Self-Concept Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior. Although Katz (2007) discussed the importance of a culturally appropriate model to guide the assessment, implementation, and evaluation of an educational program for a specific population of Native Americans and Alaska Natives, the model was not used in the conduct of the study. The remaining eight studies failed to mention or refer to a theoretical framework.…”

“…Examination of the demographic characteristics of samples, across the studies reporting this information, revealed that the majority of study participants were White, school-aged, girls (Cohen et al, 2004;Drenkard et al, 2002;Grossman et al, 1989;Kohler & Edwards, 1990;May, Champion, & Austin, 1991;Palumbo et al, 2008;Tomey et al, 1996). Two studies deviated from this trend with samples that were primarily male (Hoke, 2006) or Native American (Katz, 2007). Participants were recruited from both rural (Cohen et al; Palumbo et al; Tomey et al) and urban settings (Hoke; Palumbo et al), as well as both public (Hoke; Kohler & Edwards) and private school systems (Grossman et al).…”

“…In most studies the instruments were given to participants at school (Grossman et al, 1989;Hoke, 2006;Kohler & Edwards, 1990;May et al, 1991;Mendez & Louis, 1991;Tomey et al, 1996). In other studies, the instruments were distributed by mail, with a response rate of 12% (May et al), or given directly to students at fairs (Cohen et al, 2004;Palumbo et al, 2008), camp (Drenkard et al, 2002), or at a summer residency program (Katz, 2007). Cohen et al, 2004;May et al, 1991;Mendez & Louis, 1991;Palumbo et al, 2008).…”

“…Therefore, the Indiana instrument, Nursing Profession instrument, Northwest instrument, and Urban instrument established content validity by a panel of experts (Cohen et al, 2004;Grossman et al, 1989;Katz, 2007;Kohler & Edwards, 1990;May et al, 1991;Palumbo et al, 2008). The psychometric evaluation of the West Coast instrument has not been adequately reported to establish content validity (Hoke, 2006).…”

“…Three instruments demonstrated consistent reliability (internal consistency): (a) the Indiana instrument (Cronbach's α 0.8050-0.8970; Cohen et al, 2004;May et al, 1991;Mendez & Louis, 1991;Palumbo et al, 2008), (b) the West Coast instrument (Cronbach's ? 0.70-0.93; Hoke, 2006), and (c) the Northwest instrument (Cronbach's α 0.72-0.93; Katz, 2007). Although the Nursing Profession instrument was reliable when used alone (Cronbach's α 0.7645; Grossman et al, 1989), reliability dropped to an unacceptable range when combined with another instrument (Cronbach's α 0.63-0.67; Mendez & Louis, 1991).…”