Socialization into nursing: a developmental approach

This paper explores the process of socialization into the profession of nursing through developmental models and examines the differences in the degree of professional socialization among nursing students at three academic levels. The conceptual framework around which this study was organized was Richard Hall's concept of professional socialization. The descriptive, comparative cross-sectional study utilized Hall's professional inventory as modified by Snizek to ascertain degree and differences of professional socialization in the three groups. The total mean score indicated a moderate degree of professional socialization for the sample as a whole. The findings also indicated that the sophomore nursing students had a statistically significantly higher degree of professional socialization than either the senior or masters nursing students. Implications and recommendations for nursing education, practice, and future research are discussed.