Students' perceptions of nursing: their relationship to attrition

This article describes a cross-sectional study that examined the effect of students' pre-enrollment perceptions of nursing education on attrition. It was hypothesized that more students who leave (leavers) than students who continue would report a discrepancy between these perceptions and their nursing academic experience. It was also hypothesized that leavers would rate several potential stressors as more important concerning decisions to leave than would continuers. The sample comprised students who commenced their nursing education at an Australian tertiary institution. As predicted, a greater percentage of leavers than continuers reported nursing content to differ from what they expected. The major area of conflict was the scientific component in nursing knowledge. The groups did not differ concerning potential stressors' influence on decisions to leave. While constrained by its cross-sectional nature, this study's findings suggest a need to adequately convey the scientific basis of nursing knowledge to potential students and to deal with misconceptions early in education, to reduce attrition.