The influence of values and background on the location decision of nurse practitioners

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the value systems of family nurse practitioners and the background characteristics of family nurse practitioners and their spouses on the decision about location of practice. Information collected from a questionnaire sent to the graduates of the first five classes of the Family Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Washington revealed that value systems, as measured by the Rokeach Value Survey, did not significantly affect the location decision of the family nurse practitioners, whereas rural background of the family nurse practitioner and spouse did have a major effect. It is concluded that, if we want to encourage family nurse practitioner graduates to practice in rural areas, we need to reevaluate the admissions criteria and training experiences provided by family nurse practitioner programs.