The effects of nursing education on professional values: A longitudinal study

Background It is considered to be extremely important to ensure that nurses adopt professional values during their education in order to improve nursing practices and develop a professional identity. Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of nursing education on development of professional values. Design: This study was designed as a longitudinal study. Settings: The study was conducted in a nursing department at a nursing school in the western Turkey. Partirdcipants: The population of the study consisted of nursing students who were enrolled in the nursing department in academic year of 2011-2012. The data of the study were collected from 59 first-year students in 2011 and 83 fourth-year students in 2015. Methods: The data of the study were collected using Personal Information Form and Nursing Professional Values Scale-NPVS. The participants responded to the same questionnaire in their first and fourth years in the department. Results: The scale mean score of the students in their first year was 3.44 +/- 0.635. The highest scores were obtained from the subscales of responsibility, security, and autonomy. Their scale mean score in their fourth year was 3.93 0.727. The highest scores were obtained from the subscales of dignity and autonomy. The difference between the mean scores was statistically significant (p = 0.001). Conclusions: It was concluded that nursing education had a significant effect on development of professional values.