Forecasting for nursing policy: a news-based image approach

A prototype of a news-based forecasting model was developed as an aid to policymaking in nursing and to assist in setting priorities for promoting an effective image of nursing. Newspaper articles about nursing were analyzed each month from 1978 to 1981. A model, constructed to show the effects of key nursing tissues on the image of nursing, was estimated using Ridge Regression to determine the direction and magnitude of the effect that each of the key issues had on the image of nursing. It was determined that newspaper articles that show nurses in clinical settings and articles that show nurses as playing a major role are the most important factors in projecting a positive image of nursing. The model was used to construct forecasts for the image of nursing from 1982 to 1984. The image of nursing was forecasted to improve over this period, primarily because of a projected increase in the number of articles that show nurses in this positive image.