Perception and Acceptance of Nursing Profession among Secondary School Students in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the perception and acceptance of nursing profession among secondary school students in Port Harcourt. Methodology: The study involved 200 senior secondary school students in public secondary schools in Port Harcourt. Structured questionnaires were distributed to the respondents after informed consent was obtained and responses collated and analyzed descriptively and also using SPSS version 23. Results: The results indicated that out of the 200 questionnaires, 192(96%) were returned  properly filled. Out of the 192 respondents, 90(46.9%) were male while 102(53.1%) were female. The respondents were within the age bracket of 16-18 years. The results indicate that the students were knowledgeable about the nursing profession, admires the profession but do not want to become nurses. This shows that the level of their acceptance of the profession is low. Their knowledge, acceptance and perception are influenced by job security, remuneration, the society they live in and their personal experiences. There was poor acceptance of the Nursing profession among the respondents. The factors that contributed to this observation included not having mentors and role models who are nurses, lack of passion and desire for the profession and the view that nurses work to support doctors in the hospital. The findings also indicated that parents/guardians have no influence on the perception and acceptance of Nursing among the respondents. Conclusion: The findings from this study show that there was high perception but poor acceptance of the Nursing profession among secondary school students in the study area. The study recommends that efforts should be made by relevant bodies and authorities in the Nursing profession to make it an acceptable career choice among the students of secondary schools.