title: Diversifying the Pipeline Into Doctoral Nursing Programs: Developing the Doctoral Advancement Readiness Self-Assessment.
abstract: This article presents the development and psychometric analysis of the Doctoral Readiness Self-Assessment for Doctoral Study. This survey was developed as the first step of a Web-based, on-line mentoring platform for nurses who are considering a doctoral degree program. By identifying and anticipating the predictors and barriers of success in doctoral nursing education, including practical (finances, time, geographical restriction) and personal factors (motivation, attitudes, perceived ability to navigate the application process), students are guided through a self-reflective process to determine readiness. Factor analysis revealed that interest, readiness, and support represent 3 distinct factors that may be used for additional analysis to predict future enrollment in doctoral nursing degree programs. The internal reliability analysis revealed that removing 3 items from the 15-item scale increased Cronbach's alpha from 0.75 to 0.80, and these factors explained 51.25% of variance. The self-assessment results can inform faculty's work as they mentor and guide students through the application, admission, and financial support processes for doctoral study.
authors.affiliation: Program Deputy Director, Robert Wood Johnson New Careers in Nursing, American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Washington, DC 20036-1120. Electronic address: vdewitty@aacn.nche.edu.
authors.forename: Vernell P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: DeWitty
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, William F Connell School of Nursing, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. Electronic address: Tabloski@bc.edu.
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Tabloski
authors.affiliation: Senior Research Scientist, Educational Testing Service, Policy Evaluation and Research Center, Princeton, NJ 08541. Electronic address: CMillett@ets.org.
authors.forename: Catherine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Millett
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40208. Electronic address: marion.hambrick@louisville.edu.
authors.forename: Marion Evan
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hambrick
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40208. Electronic address: megan.shreffler@louisville.edu.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shreffler
authors.affiliation: Research Coordinator, New Careers in Nursing, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing, American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Washington, DC 20036. Electronic address: cdowning@aacn.nche.edu.
authors.forename: Christine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Downing
authors.affiliation: Director & Professor, Endowed Chair, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Interim School of Nursing, Lillian O. Slemp, Edinburg, TX 78539. Electronic address: carolina.huerta@utrgv.edu.
authors.forename: Carolina G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Huerta
keywords: Doctoral education; Graduate school readiness; Preparedness for graduate school; Readiness self-assessment; Self-assessment validity