title: Exploring commitment, professional identity, and support for student nurses.
abstract: Problems with the recruitment and retention of nurses globally mean that insight into the factors that might increase retention in qualified staff and students is crucial. Despite clear links between work commitment and retention, there is little research exploring commitment in student nurses and midwives. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study designed to provide insight into commitment using semi-structured interviews conducted with nine pre-registration students and a qualitative survey completed by 171 pre-registration students. Thematic analysis of the data emphasised the impact of placement experiences on commitment via interpersonal relationships. Students typically emphasised their professional identity as the basis for commitment, although many participants also highlighted a lack of acceptance by qualified practitioners, which reduced it. There was evidence that suggested that practitioner workload may impact the student experience due to challenges in making sufficient time to provide support. Implications for retention strategies are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Andrew.clements@beds.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Andrew James
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Clements
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kinman
authors.affiliation: Department of Healthcare Practice, University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leggetter
authors.affiliation: Centre for Sustainable Working Life, Birkbeck University of London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Teoh
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guppy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008880:Midwifery / Q000193:education; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D010558:Personnel Loyalty; D011247:Pregnancy; D000068616:Professionalism; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Commitment; Professional-student relations; Psychological models; Qualitative studies