title: A residential nursing camp program: effects on adolescent attitudes toward nursing careers.
abstract: Health policy experts predict that the current shortage of nurses will persist and perhaps worsen during the next 30 years. One of the most important causes of this problem is that too few youth choose nursing careers. A partnership was forged between university nursing faculty and nurse clinicians and administrators at a full-service hospital in northeastern Pennsylvania. The authors postulated that adolescent attitudes toward selecting nursing careers could improve after an intensive 4-day residential nursing camp program. We recruited local high school students generally interested in health care careers to attend the camp. Aggregate pre-camp and post-camp surveys obtained over 3 years demonstrated generally favorable attitudes toward nursing careers that improved at the conclusion of the camp. This camp program is an easily replicable intervention that successfully improves adolescents' attitudes toward pursuing nursing careers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing and Health, DeSales University, Center Valley, Pennsylvania, USA. yeagers@slhn.org
authors.forename: Shelley T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Yeager
authors.forename: Kerry H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Cheever
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D002165:Camping / Q000523:psychology; D002321:Career Choice; D005181:Faculty, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000458:organization & administration; D009720:Nurse Clinicians / Q000458:organization & administration; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D009729:Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000600:supply & distribution; D010414:Pennsylvania; D010560:Personnel Selection / Q000458:organization & administration; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D015397:Program Evaluation; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires