Perceived important characteristics of role models in nursing from the nursing faculty's perspectives and from the baccalaureate nursing students' perspective

The purpose of this study was: to compare students' and faculties' perspectives on (a) the people who are selected as actual role model(s) for nursing students, (b) the people who should be selected as ideal role model(s) for nursing students, (c) the length of time involved in knowing the actual role model, (d) the reasons that contributed to the selection of a particular person as a role model, and (e) the perceived important behaviors of people who are selected as role models. Bandura's social learning theory was used as a theoretical framework. A sample of 205 first and second semester senior nursing students and 39 nursing faculty from three institutions that offer a baccalaureate degree in nursing participated in the study. Two attitude scales and a behavior scale were employed in data collection. Prior to hypotheses testing, factor analyses and Cronbach's alpha were employed. Acceptable alpha reliability levels were computed for the three scales. Identification of possible intervening variables using ANOVAs indicated that students' class status and basic educational background had no confounding effect on students' responses and they were not considered intervening variables. Hypotheses testing demonstrated that: (1) There were no significant differences between the status-position categories of people selected by the senior nursing students as actual role models or ideal role models for nursing students and the status-position categories of people selected by the nursing faculty. (2) There was a significant difference between the length of time students have known the selected most influential role model and the length of time the nursing faculty thought the nursing students have known the selected role model. (3) There was a significant difference between the students' and the nursing faculty's degree of agreement in the Personal/Humanistic and Professional attitudes as contributed to the selection of role models. However, there was no significant difference between the two samples' degree of agreement on the important behaviors of role models. The findings from the study were probably distorted due to the sample size differences between students and faculty. The results of this study provide a ground for further beneficial information for the nursing profession and for further studies. Further refinements of the scales are necessary before they can be added to the body of assessment tools useful in nursing education. In addition, replication studies are needed in order to enhance the generalizability of the findings.