title: Second-career baccalaureate nursing students: a lived experience.
abstract: Second-career baccalaureate nursing programs and the students enrolled in them have been a topic of interest since these programs were first introduced into the academic setting in the 1970s. The purpose of this phenomenological inquiry was to develop an understanding of the meaning of the lived experience of being a second-career baccalaureate nursing student. Five second-career baccalaureate nursing students participated in unstructured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews. Data analysis was guided by the phenomenological method of van Manen. The themes identified were Questioning One's Place in the World; Seeing One's Place in the World in Another Way; Preparing for the Plunge; Trying Transitions; A Bundle of Emotions; Faculty Control, Student Imbalance; and Almost There and Scared. Implications of this research related to curriculum revision are presented.
authors.affiliation: Pace University, Lienhard School of Nursing, Pleasantville, New York 10570, USA. pscharf@pace.edu
authors.forename: Paula Scharf
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Kohn
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Truglio-Londrigan
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D004522:Educational Status; D005181:Faculty, Nursing; D006801:Humans; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012579:Schools, Nursing; D013338:Students, Nursing; D013997:Time Factors