Perceptions of nursing students' parents regarding the profession and their college

To ensure client satisfaction, it is important for all educational institutions to identify the characteristics of their clients and to consider their expectations and demands through quality studies.

The study aims to identify the perceptions of parents of nursing students regarding the nursing profession and the related educational institution.

The parents of all students attending the nursing school of a public Turkish university were included in the study. Following permission from the university management, questionnaires developed by the researchers in light of the related literature were sent to 474 parents via mail, and 133 completed questionnaires (28% response rate) were analysed statistically.

Mothers of nursing students were mostly ≤45 years of age, primary school graduates and housewives, while fathers were ≥46 years of age, at least secondary school graduates, old-age pensioners or had an independent business. In general, the responding fathers and mothers preferred not to get involved in their children's choice of profession, perceiving nursing as a helpful and sacred profession. Therefore, they also recommended nursing to others and had no problems with the idea of male nurses.

Study findings demonstrated that the parents had positive attitudes towards the nursing profession and were satisfied with the nursing college.