Retention in nursing education and scholarship programs: Survival analysis of the Veterans Health Administration National Nursing Education Initiative Data

Abstract

Aims To investigate factors affecting non‐completion by registered nurses (RNs) participating in degree programs supported by the scholarship program of the National Nursing Education Initiative of the United States Veterans Health Administration. Secondarily, to assess overall retention in the scholarship program over time. Design Retrospective longitudinal design using administrative data. Methods Defining retention time as the time elapsed from enrollment date to non‐completion, we performed survival (retention) analysis (i.e.,Kaplan–Meier survival functions, log‐rank tests and Cox regressions) to retrospectively analyzea national sample of RNs (N = 15,908) enrolled in the scholarship program between the United States federal fiscal years 2000 and 2020. Results Nurses' mean age was 44 years (range: 19–71), and 86% were females. Six‐ and 12‐month cumulative educational program retention rates were 92% and 84% respectively. The newest group of enrollees (2016–2020), younger nurses (<50 years), and nurses in traditional degree programtype were more likely to complete their academic programs than the earlier groups, older nurses and nurses in non‐traditional type, respectively. Male nurses who aspired to advanced occupational levels upon completion were more likely to complete their academic programs compared to those who expected no change from their current level of practice. Conclusion Multiple factors affected non‐completion of academic degree programs by RNs enrolled in the scholarship program. More work is needed to examine these plus additional plausible factors and their correlates extensively. Impact Our findings highlighted areas for quality improvement in employee scholarship programs for RNs. The findings are expected to inform tailoring of proactive helpful intervention towards individual needs and prioritization of limited resources to maximize graduation rate from academic programs for scholarship recipients. The study will have impact on nursing workforce policy makers interested in implementing employee scholarship programs, and on their scholarship recipients.