Elsevier

Journal of Professional Nursing

Volume 23, Issue 5, September–October 2007, Pages 267-277
Journal of Professional Nursing

Original Article
A Replication Study of Priorities and Attitudes of Two Nursing Programs' Communities of Interest: An Appreciative Inquiry

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2007.01.023Get rights and content

American universities and nursing faculties, caught between the imperatives of community demand and university financial constraints, need to analyze their communities of interests' shared priorities for nursing education. This replication study's objective was to compare the priorities and attitudes of two nursing programs' communities of interest using appreciative inquiry (AI). The researchers used AI to conduct a qualitative, comparative analysis of data from two nursing programs. They used one-on-one and focus group interviews to examine stakeholders' views of the best of the nursing program's past, their vision and approaches to realizing the vision, and their roles in contributing to the vision they created. The researchers analyzed the qualitative data using a standardized codebook and content analysis. Respondents' priorities for both academic programs were similar, with the western respondents emphasizing nursing's contribution to quality care and the southern respondents emphasizing its leadership and commitment to diversity. Both identified the role of legislators and the community in partnering with nursing to secure funds for expansion. Both programs' respondents viewed nursing as a major part of the university and considered their role as supporters of the university's academic and financial goals. The two nursing programs appeared to harness external and internal support in their respective communities. While some priorities differed between the two nursing programs, respondents were aware of the ripple effect of decreased funding for nursing education on the delivery of nursing services to the community. Differences among the undergraduate and graduate students, which reflect a nursing program's student mix, underscore the priorities that nursing programs must emphasize.

Section snippets

Background

A university's major responsibility is to educate students and prepare them as scholars and practitioners. The communities that hire and employ nurses are key stakeholders in the educational system as are the politicians, health care employers, their patients, consumers, and their families. As the higher education system in the country undergoes radical change and, in some instances, downsizing, these stakeholders' priorities and attitudes will assume increasing importance in helping the system

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework and its accompanying operational definitions that are used this study are based on those that Farrell et al. (2003) developed for the initial study. In this investigation, nursing is considered as a dynamic discipline that changes as the society it serves changes and is defined as the diagnosis and treatment of the human response to health and health care conditions. Nursing is a professional discipline of the scholar practitioner and, thus, includes theory and practice

Operational Definitions

The researchers used the following list of operational definitions to code the data and map the two communities' responses for priorities and attitude:

  • Admission is defined as the prospective students' experiences that begin with recruitment and admission into the program. These components include the processes of being recruited, interviewing, touring, receiving preadmission counseling, and completing the requisite documentation for application.

  • Progression is defined as the student's experience

Study Questions

The researchers asked the following five questions:

  • 1.

    What parts of the nursing program's past does a community of interest consider essential to bring forward into the present?

  • 2.

    Given a community of interest's past with a nursing program, what is its vision of the program?

  • 3.

    In what way does a community of interest perceive the created or cocreated vision being put into practice?

  • 4.

    What role does a community of interest perceive it should play in fulfilling the vision it has created or cocreated?

  • 5.

    What are

Limitations

This study presented limitations related to sampling and to the research design. The study sample represented a broad section of the external community of interest. However, it was limited to stakeholders who were able to meet only during the study period. The study design was limited to a one-event, one-on-one interview or focus group; thus, respondents' priorities and attitudes may not be those held over a sustained time period.

Setting

This study's setting was a nursing program on a state university campus in California (the western program). The comparison entity was a nursing program on a state university campus in Mississippi (the southern program). Both offered baccalaureate education to undergraduates and returning registered nurses and master's degrees in nursing. The southern program also offered a shared doctoral program (with another university in the state).

Research Design

This qualitative, descriptive, one-event study used focus

Final Sample

The final sample included 57 study volunteers who provided data through 26 one-on-one or focus group events. The age range of the participants, which spanned 49 years, was between 20 and 69 years. The average age was 36 years, the median age was 28 years, and the modal age was 22 years.

The final internal community of interest sample included 31 respondents. Three did not indicate their ages. The sample included 22 (71%) women and 9 (29%) men. The ethnicity reported included the following: 24

The Participant's Role

The fourth and final question queried the respondents' perceptions of their own role in the vision that they created or cocreated with other focus group participants. Most reflected the positions they held in their work lives. For example, the politicians in the western setting saw themselves sponsoring and voting on legislative issues that would promote nursing education. The politicians in the south also viewed their roles as “fighting for funding for nursing education and maintaining

Conclusion

This replication study and comparative analysis examined priorities of one western and one southern nursing program's internal and external communities of interest. One conclusion from this analysis is that although both communities of interest share similar visions for their respective nursing program, their emphasis differed somewhat, depending on the position of the stakeholder. As expected, nursing students emphasized admission, recruitment, and progression components of the system and

Acknowledgments

The authors extend their gratitude to Ms. Leah Noriega, Ms. Phon Lounbandith, and Ms. Jennifer Clayton, Research Assistants from the Department of Nursing, California State University, Bakersfield.

This research was funded through the California State University, Bakersfield Research Council of the University.

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