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Current Trends in Nursing I

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Sometimes we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human development and lifespan. When we test the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time, we are conducting longitudinal research. Longitudinal research is a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time. For example, we may survey a group of individuals about their dietary habits at age 20, retest them a decade later at age 30, and then again...

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According to obedience research, we may harm others under the forceful pressures of an authority figure (Milgram, 1974). How about if the inappropriate orders were delivered with less force? The increasing interdependence between nurses and physicians compelled Hofling and his colleagues to explore nurses’ reactions to a potentially harmful medical request made by the perceived authority figure, the doctor (Hofling, Brotzman, Dalrymple, Graves, & Pierce, 1966). In this situation, obedience...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Use of Galvanic Skin Responses, Salivary Biomarkers, and Self-reports to Assess Undergraduate Student Performance During a Laboratory Exam Activity

Use of Galvanic Skin Responses, Salivary Biomarkers, and Self-reports to Assess Undergraduate Student Performance During a Laboratory Exam Activity

Published on: February 10, 2016

Expectations and voluntary attrition in nursing students.

Hugh O'Donnell¹

¹The Queen's University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre, United Kingdom. h.odonnell@qub.ac.uk

Nurse Education in Practice

|September 9, 2010

Summary

Nursing students often leave programs due to a mismatch between expectations and reality. Addressing these unrealistic expectations is key to reducing voluntary attrition in nursing education.

Area of Science:

Nursing Education
Higher Education Studies
Student Attrition Research

Background:

Significant incongruence exists between nursing student expectations and program realities.
This dissonance is a key factor in voluntary withdrawal from pre-registration nursing programs.
Understanding the causes of voluntary attrition is crucial for improving nursing education retention.

Purpose of the Study:

To theoretically understand why nursing students voluntarily leave pre-registration nursing programs.
To explore the causes of voluntary attrition in nursing students.
To identify how unrealistic and ambiguous expectations contribute to student attrition.

Main Methods:

A single case study design was employed within a School of Nursing and Midwifery.

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Last Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Use of Galvanic Skin Responses, Salivary Biomarkers, and Self-reports to Assess Undergraduate Student Performance During a Laboratory Exam Activity

Use of Galvanic Skin Responses, Salivary Biomarkers, and Self-reports to Assess Undergraduate Student Performance During a Laboratory Exam Activity

Published on: February 10, 2016

Data were collected from 15 students who had voluntarily withdrawn from pre-registration nursing programs.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted, guided by Tinto's conceptual model of higher education student attrition, and analyzed using the Cyclical or Interactive Model of Qualitative Research.

Main Results:

Nursing students hold a wide range of unrealistic expectations about the nursing profession.
Information sources and prior experiences significantly shape student expectations.
Ambiguous and unmet expectations were identified as major contributors to voluntary attrition.

Conclusions:

The gap between student expectations and the reality of nursing programs leads to dissonance and attrition.
Interventions should focus on managing and clarifying student expectations before and during pre-registration programs.
Improving the alignment of expectations is vital for enhancing nursing student retention.