Strengthening Professional Values of Doctoral-Level Nursing Students

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Professional Ethics
• Healthcare Leadership

Background:

• Recent critical societal and global events have underscored the significance of professional values in nursing.
• Standards of behavior are crucial for framing nurses' professional values, influencing their beliefs and practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the professional values of Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students.
• To investigate the relationship between students' professional values, their time in the DNP program, and their intentions to participate in professionalism-focused activities.

Main Methods:

• A quantitative study involving 227 DNP students surveyed online between Fall 2019 and Spring 2021.
• Utilized the Nurses Professional Values Scale-3 (NPVS-3) to assess caring, activism, and professionalism.
• Measured students' intentions to engage in professionalism-focused activities using Likert scale items.

Main Results:

• The overall mean NPVS-3 score was 118.30, with the highest dimension being caring (45.38), followed by activism (40.20), and professionalism (32.71).
• DNP students reported high intentions (5.77/7) to participate in professionalism-focused activities.
• A moderate positive correlation was found between intentions and professionalism (r=.44, p<.0001), and weaker but significant correlations with caring (r=0.26, p=.012) and activism (r=0.37, p=.0003).

Conclusions:

• Doctor of Nursing Practice curricula should emphasize the development of professional attributes to strengthen nurses' values.
• Nurses with doctoral-level education must possess robust professional values and recognize their leadership role and impact.
• Fostering strong professional values is essential for nurses, particularly at the doctoral level, to effectively lead and advocate within the profession.