[Nurses' image perceived by academic and vocational high school teachers in Korea].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to identify nurses' image and its related factors to make nurses' image among academic and vocational high school teachers in Korea.


METHODS
Study samples were composed of 470 teachers who were from 12 high schools in G and J city located in southwestern part of Korea. Data were collected from August 26 to October 4, 2002. The internal consistency of the total scale was Cronbach's a =.940.


RESULTS
In order to make nurses' image, 76.4% of respondents were influenced by the experience of their hospitalization in visiting hospitals. The mean score of nurses' image in general was 3.19+/-0.55; in four subcategories, 3.46+/-0.60 for professional image, 3.28+/-0.69 for traditional image, 2.93+/-0.70 for social image, and 2.91+/-0.64 for vision of nursing career. The mean score of nurses' image in general was more positive significantly in the 50's age group (F=6.43, p=.002) and in male groups (t=2.92, p=.002).


CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of these findings, nursing professionals need to improve their working conditions, aspiration in job, and autonomy of nurses in their practice fields, monitor the mass media and other publishing materials continuously, and share the appropriate information on nursing profession to the school teachers and the public.
Department of Nursing, Chonnam National University, Chonnam Research Institute of Nursing Science, Korea.
Hae-Young
HY
Kang
Mi-Hye
MH
Go
Jin-Ju
JJ
Yang
Sun-Mi
SM
Kim