| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to identify high school students' perceptions of nursing
as a career choice. The conceptual framework used in this study was based on Osipow's self-concept
theory (1983) and Gottfredson's (1981) theory of career aspiration. In this
framework, career decision-making was viewed as a four stage process involving six factors:
self-concept, career image, career preference, career accessibility, range of acceptable
careers, and career choice. The three concepts from the conceptual framework explored in
this study were, career image, preference, and accessibility. Students from three senior
secondary schools in the Richmond School District and one high school in the Vancouver
School District participated in the study. The sample consisted of 602 students in grades 11
and 12 from seven different classes. There were 262 males and 340 females. Data was
collected using an adapted version of the Career Questionnaire developed by Kohler and
Edwards (1990).
Results showed that overall, high school students perceived nursing positively. In all
three sub-categories, the mean scores were high, which indicated that students perceived
nursing favourably. The possible range for the total mean score was 41 to 205. Males had a
mean total score of 133.1, and females were significantly higher at 137.5 (p = 0.001).
Students were frequently undecided in their responses, particularly in relation to questions
involving money. Informational sources about nurses were primarily observation, followed
by television, knowing someone who was a nurse, printed material, and lastly, through
school. Although high school students had a positive image of nursing, few (8%) were
considering it as a career choice. Recruitment in nursing is an under-explored and poorly understood phenomenon.
Given the reluctance of high schools students to select nursing as a career choice, further
research is needed to discover effective and efficient recruitment strategies. Therefore, it
important to determine those factors that are most influential during high school students'
career decision-making. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Nursing, School of === Graduate
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