![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
Learning Objective 1: Describe the concepts of absorption as openness to experience and worldview in nursing education.
Learning Objective 2: Compare and contrast the development of openness to experience, and contextual and mechanistic worldviews by along the academic nursing continuum among Mexican nursing students.
Methods: Nursing students in their second (N=82), third (N=11) and fourth years (N=35) of training in a baccalaureate nursing program central Mexico completed the Spanish translated Tellegen (1974) Absorption Scale and the worldview Paradigm Inventory (Berry, 1984) to assess these constructs within their academic paths. Chi squared tests and linear regression analysis was performed with PASW18 to address the study aim.
Results: Overall, student demographics showed 81% to be women, with a mean age and standard deviation of 20.9±3.1 years. Mean score for absorption was 21±5. Students were significantly more likely to endorse a contextual (56%) versus mechanistic (44%, p<0.05) worldview. Linear regression showed 27% of the adjusted variance to be accounted for by older age (β=0.27; CI=0.19-0.36; p<0.0001), absorption (β=0.09; CI=0.03-0.14; p<0.01) and contextual versus mechanistic worldview (β=0.57; CI=0.03-1.11; p<0.05).
Conclusion: Findings suggest that as Mexican nursing students matriculate through the training program, their openness to experience (absorption) increases. Over half of the students hold a contextual worldview consistent with higher absorption scores. For some students, their worldview moves from mechanistic to contextual as they progress through training. These findings may be useful for student advising in nursing education, nursing care specialty, and academic and professional career paths. These measures may also inform curriculum and classroom activities in order to address the learning needs of students with differing worldviews.