Role conception and role discrepancy: a comparison between hospital-based and degree nursing students in Hong Kong

This paper reports on a cross-sectional survey that aimed to compare the role conception types and role discrepancy between 140 certificate and 81 degree nursing students in Hong Kong. Non-probability convenience sampling was used and the participants selected from the hospital-based training were first, third and fourth study block students. Second-, third- and fourth-year students from the degree programme were selected for comparison. The role conception scale developed by Pieta was modified and adopted to measure the role conception and discrepancy. ANOVA test was performed to examine differences across and within the two groups. The results showed that the degree students had a significantly higher ideal but lower actual professional role conception than the certificate students. An interaction effect between the groups (certificate--degree) and grades (stages of education) was detected in the ideal professional role, indicating a marked drop of the score for the fourth-year degree students. For the discrepancy role conception score, the degree students had a significantly higher discrepancy score in all the three role conception types compared with their certificate counterparts. In summary, the impact of the educational process on the development of role conception was demonstrated. Compared to the certificate students, the ward practice seemed to exert a far greater impact on degree students' role conception.