Abstract

Nursing is a health care profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities. There is a growing demand of nursing worldwide and Cameroon is no exception for that. The profession is said to have long suffered from public stereotyping and from being closely associated with feminity and powerlessness.

The main objective of this study is to examine adolescent’s perception of nursing as a career among Upper sixth students of St Paul College Mile 3 Nkwen Bamenda.

Specifically, the study seeks to assess Upper sixth school student’s perception about the nursing profession and to determine the factors influencing the choice of Upper sixth school students toward nursing as a career at St Paul College Mile 3 Nkwen Bamenda.

In order to achieve this study objective, convenient and purposive sampling techniques were employed on 169 adolescents using a structured questionnaire.

Collected dates were coded and a descriptive analysis was conducted using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), 21.0. Findings revealed that adolescents hold the perception that nursing is a difficult task and meant for only certain individuals.

Others perceive that nurses lack jobs in Cameroon and do not easily get employed. Another adolescent perceives nurses to lack the respects they deserve in society.

Findings further revealed that the only reason adolescence may consider nursing as a career in the future is due to their desire to help the sick.

The study concluded that the only major reasons adolescent might want to consider nursing as a career in future are because of the great desire their have for others and the great care they have for research in the health. It was recommended that Health institutions should market nursing among potential male learners, and remove the misconception that is a female career.

Keywords: Nursing profession, Nursing students, Career and Perception

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Nursing is the largest single health care profession in the health care context (Price et al., 2013). Its central significance anchors on the fact that the care permeates every stratum and segment of any given community. The practitioners’ preparations, which are elaborate in nature, place them in a vantage position to render high-quality services to the community (IOM, 2009).

In the past, nursing was provided by criminals, prostitutes. Poor family women have led to a bad and low reputation of nursing among the society until the time of the lamp’s lady (nightingale) came over, and she improved the profession (Patidar et al., 2011). This could be one ground for the current image of nursing in health care and well-cultured society at the national and international level.

In the 19th century, Florence Nightingale, a lady who belongs to a well-cultured family joined nursing and provided care to sick and wounded soldiers during Vietnam War. It was a time when people start accepting nursing and understood the importance of nursing inpatient care.

Still, nursing was never been considered a high-standard job by society. After ending a long journey of the nursing profession, the attitude of the public towards nursing is still controversial and can be understood as negative.

At present, nursing still facing almost the same obstacles and stereotypes, despite the great changes that had happened over time, which has a powerful impact on the profession’s choices among high school students.

On the other hand, there is an increasing demand because of the worldwide shortage of nurses, which affects the quality of care provided to the individuals, families, and communities and on the consumers’ satisfaction (Kim, et al., 2009; Keshk et al., 2016).

A multi-dimensional perspective about career choice has to be examined in order to situate the choice of nursing as a career among adolescents. Adolescence is a stage imbued with an array of complex physical and socio-emotional states.

Career choice is one of the critical decisions adolescents (Novakovic and Fouad, 2012) are expected to make as the effective choice will have a positive impact on their self-concept development, and fulfillment of one’s life purpose. Career choice is greatly influenced by a number of factors.

Parental background and communication between parents and children, interests, and role models (Sawitiri et al., 2102) have been implicated in determining the choice of career.

Studies (Kanan and Baker, 2006) have shown that there has been some effect of schooling on students’ aspirations in terms of quality of the school, mainstreaming or tracking, and whether a school is segregated or co-educational.

Some individuals see nursing as a calling/vocation; a conviction that drives their interest and passion to pick nursing as a career. Individuals whose career decisions are strongly influenced by religion or spirituality (Hernandez et al., 2011) may refer to their careers as a calling or a vocation.

Students often begin investigating career choices and discussing their future plans in middle school, and awareness of opportunities should also be a factor when considering a career choice (Knight et al., 2011).

Individuals have severally attempted to rationalize their choice of nursing. People do give different reasons for choosing to nurse as a career. In most cases, altruism and interest have always been the reasons adduced for opting to pick nursing as a career.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

A variety of factors determine the choice of a career of an individual. Choices of careers by individuals are greatly influenced by the individual’s perception, expectation, and necessary environmental support. Nursing, as a career, has been influenced, recent, by a lot of factors and reasons, and these vary from one context to another.

Present-day adolescents have greater access to sophisticated information technology which enables them to have the knowledge of the incidents in another context than the pre-sophisticated information technology adolescents. Their responsiveness to this thus, sometimes, accounts for changes that up till now were unexpected.

Significant numbers of secondary school students do not still think of nursing as a profession. It appears that the choice of career is made at an early age in life.

The study by Foskett and Hemsley (1997) revealed that most pupils had rejected most jobs on the basis of perception. They further reported that the young people’s perceptions were highly individual and are the product of images of jobs they see for themselves, those passed from parents and friends, and those from the media.

Studies have shown that the nursing recruits are sourced from all levels of social classes as against the rigid old practice when recruits were mainly drawn from the working class.

A couple of developments such as the rapid increase of university nursing education programs and the enhanced practice have been able to encourage younger ones to develop an interest in nursing (Ogunyewo et al., 2014).

However, whether this interest is growing at the same level in every place in Cameroon is another issue on its own. The dearth of literature about perceptions of adolescent secondary school students about nursing and factor that influence these perceptions in Cameroon, in general, and particularly in the North West Region, makes this study important.

1.3 Research Questions

1.3.1 Main Research Question

What is the perception of nursing as a career among Upper sixth students of St Paul College Mile 3 Nkwen Bamenda?

1.4.2 Specific Research Questions

1. What is the perception of nursing among Upper sixth students of St Paul College Mile 3 Nkwen Bamenda?
2. What are the factors that influence their choice of nursing as a career among Upper sixth students of St Paul College Mile 3 Nkwen Bamenda?

1.5 Research Objective

1.5.1 Main Objective

The main objective of this study is to examine adolescent’s perception of nursing as a career among Upper sixth students of St Paul College Mile 3 Nkwen Bamenda

1.5.2    Specific Objectives

1. To assess Upper sixth school student’s perception of the nursing profession at St Paul College Mile 3 Nkwen Bamenda
2. To determine the factors influencing the choice of Upper sixth school students toward nursing as a career at St Paul College Mile 3 Nkwen Bamenda