Sample and Method: A descriptive, correlational design was used for this study. The survey form was comprised of six open-ended questions related to why students chose nursing. Several demographic questions were asked and used for comparisons. All students at one large, faith-based school of nursing who were willing to participate were allowed 20 minutes at the end of one class to complete the survey. A total of 205 questionnaires were distributed and 131 were returned completed.

Findings: Most students decided to go to nursing school while in high school or college, and most chose nursing because they had a desire to serve or help others. Students listed several characteristics or traits that will be helpful in their vocation and the most commonly reported characteristic was being caring or compassionate. Finally, almost two-thirds of the students responded that they felt that they were “called” to become nurses. Statistical analyses indicated that there were very few correlations between feeling called to nursing and demographic characteristics such as gender, race or age.

Conclusions and Implications: Faculty at nursing schools should recognize the perception of being called among some of their nursing students and consider how it might relate to curriculum development and student recruitment and retention. Findings from this study can also be used as a baseline to examine the same or similar concepts in other nursing students, and related studies can be developed on various aspects of nursing education and practice.

Back to The Nursing Student
Back to 15th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004