KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF NURSING AS A CAREER CHOICE AMONG STUDENTS IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AKURE SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ONDO STATE.
Abstract
Nursing is a profession that contributes significantly to patient care, health promotion, and illness prevention. In addition to clinical practice, research, education, administration, and specialization in various fields, the nursing profession offers a wide range of career options. The need for experienced and compassionate nurses is expanding due to the aging population and rising healthcare needs making nursing an attractive and promising career choice. This study aimed to research, analyze and examine the Knowledge and Perception of nursing as a career choice among students in selected secondary schools in Akure South Local Government, Ondo state. Cross-sectional descriptive study to assess the Knowledge and Perception of nursing as a career choice among students in selected secondary schools in Akure South Local Government, Ondo state. Information from 350 students in senior secondary schools were gathered all at once. The data was analyzed using the statistical software, SPSS version 23. This study revealed that the majority (76%) had good knowledge of the Nursing profession. More than half (40.6%) agreed that Nursing is the most challenging medical profession, (37.1%) strongly believed that Nurses are underpaid when compared to the hazards they are exposed to. Perceiving factors that majorly affects the choices of nursing as a career among secondary school students were: the belief that the Nursing profession is challenging, Parental and friend's influence on students' career choice, passion to study nursing as a career choice. The findings showed the extent of knowledge about nursing science as a career choice good, perception of respondents regarding the enrolment of males and females into the nursing profession, relatively good and Several factors affect the choices of Nursing as a career among the senior secondary school students.
Word Count: 293
Key Words: Knowledge, Perception, students, Career choice, Nursing
Full-Text Access Notice
In accordance with the NERD Policy on promoting peer-reviewed publication, public access to the full text of a project, thesis or dissertation is restricted for three years, allowing the author and supervisors sufficient time to pursue peer-reviewed publication.
During this period, researchers with legitimate academic or research purposes may request authorisation directly from the author to enable NERD to release the indexed full texts of the work using the form below.