The relationship of career commitment and social determinants of academic achievement on perceived academic persistence among undergraduate nursing students

Abstract

Examining why a student leaves a nursing program, voluntarily or involuntarily, after successfully meeting competitive admission criteria is an important area of research. The ability to persist in higher education, and in particular for student nurses, is a critical determinant of academic success. Attrition rates among nursing programs range on average from 30% to 50%. Attrition rates nationally and internationally in nursing programs are of concern as they reduce the supply of nurses and, furthermore, contribute to nursing shortages. A limitation of past research has been the lack of a theoretical framework that explains the relationship between nursing student academic persistence and career-related variables such as career commitment and social determinants of academic achievement. Guided by the Social Cognitive Career Theory, this descriptive cross-sectional study examined the relationship between career commitment on perceived student nurse persistence as well as considering the predictor variables of selected social determinants of academic achievement. Findings indicated a significant relationship between nursing student career commitment and perceived academic persistence. The outcome of this study assists in the deployment of further intervention-based research that can guide institutional resources to provide persistence-based interventions that are evidence-based.