Author

Alison Evans

Date of Award

2009

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing

Program

Nursing

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if differences exist in professional

nursing values scores of students in accelerated and four-year baccalaureate nursing programs. Participants in this study were nursing students (N=173) from one Canadian university enrolled in the penultimate semester of an eighteen month accelerated baccalaureate program and a traditional four-year program. Ware’s emerging theory Building on a Foundation ofKnowledge by ‘Taking it All In ’was the theoretical framework for this study. In the present study, the effect of program length on students’ professional nursing values scores was examined. Program length addresses the passage oftime, one aspect of Ware’s theory. Participants completed the 26-item Revised Nursing Professional Values Scale (Weis & Schank, 2000), which addresses five aspects of professional nursing values formation. Relationships among total scores and demographic variables were also examined. Overall, there were no significant differences in total scores between groups. Although accelerated students had higher total scores on all five subscales, only the difference between groups on one subscale, activism, was statically significant. Results of this study lend support for the ongoing creation and development of accelerated baccalaureate nursing programs as an effective form of nursing education. Further research about Ware’s theory and professional nursing values formation is warranted.

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