| Student retention and success are major concerns for nurse educators and society, particularly given the need to address the global nursing shortage. Many studies have identified factors that promote student retention and success. However, it is unknown if these factors are culturally relevant to nursing education in Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this study was to determine Saudi faculty and student perceptions of the factors that promote nursing student retention and success in Saudi Arabia. This study had two phases. The first phase used a Delphi technique to examine the perceptions of an expert panel of Saudi faculty. The panel was asked to rate factors, identified by their own responses to an open-ended question and by an extensive review of the literature, in terms of their importance to student retention and success. This phase produced a list of 67 factors. The second phase examined students" perceptions using the factors identified by consensus of the expert panel. The results indicated that seven of the 67 factors were not considered important by the students. Furthermore, students added 25 factors they believed to be important. While faculty members focused on the importance of academic factors in a manner that is similar to their Western counterparts, students attended to the impact of the culture on retention and success. |
