The Relationships Between Professional Commitment And Attributional Styles For Higher Vocational Nursing Students

Objective In order to provide theoretical basis for enhancing professional commitment of higher vocational nursing students and reducing nurse turnover rate, the purpose of this research is to investigate the status of professional commitment for higher vocational nursing students and to investigate the relationships between professional commitment and attributional styles.Methods The questionnaire survey has been conducted with a sample of 1223 nursing students selected by convenience sampling method from two higher vocational schools in Shandong Province. Multi-dimensional, Multi-attributional Causality Scales(MMSC) and Professional Commitment Scale for Undergraduate Students have been employed to evaluate nursing students’professional commitment and attributional styles. SPSS 17.0 has been selected to manage data and to conduct statistical analysis statistical methods in this research include descriptive analysis, one factor variance analysis, t test, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis etc.Results1. Professional commitment for higher vocational nursing students and variance analysisThe mean score for higher vocational nursing students is 3.54±0.59. Mean scores for four dimensions of professional commitment are, in descending order, normative commitment (4.21±0.59), emotional commitment (3.57±0.64), ideal commitment (3.28±0.68), and continuance commitment (3.27±0.58).One factor variance analysis and t test indicate that significant variances exists in scores for professional commitment and all its fours dimensions in relation to demographical characteristics which are grades, origins and single-child (P<0.05). No significant variances have been identified in relation to other demographical characteristics (P>0.05).2. Attributional styles for higher vocational nursing students and variance analysisMulti-dimensional, Multi-attributional Causality Scales (MMSC) includes academic achievement scale and interpersonal relationship scale. The factor-scores in relation to the attributions of academic achievement are (in descending order):academic efforts (24.00±3.11), academic ability (19.11±3.31), academic luck (16.84±3.68) and academic background (16.20±3.73). The academic internal control, composed of academic efforts and academic ability, is 43.11±5.13, while the academic external control, composed of academic luck and academic background, is 33.04±6.61. One factor variance analysis and t test indicate that higher vocational nursing students from various grades have significant different scores in relation to academic background, academic luck and academic external control (P<0.001). No significant variances have been found in relation to other demographical characteristics (P>0.05).The factor-scores in relation to the attributions of interpersonal relationship are (in descending order):interpersonal efforts (22.14±3.30), interpersonal background (21.35±3.31), interpersonal ability (20.92±3.45) and interpersonal luck(16.08±3.77). The interpersonal internal control, composed of interpersonal efforts and interpersonal ability, is 43.06±5.90, while the interpersonal external control, composed of interpersonal luck and interpersonal background, is 37.43±5.77. One factor variance analysis and t test indicate that there exists significance variances for higher vocational nursing students with different gender, grades, mother-education- background and family financial status in relation to various dimensions of interpersonal relationship scale (P<0.05). No significant variances have been found in relation to other demographical characteristics (P>0.05).3. The correlations between higher vocational nursing students’ profession commitment and attributional styleIn relation to academic achievement scale, professional commitment and all its dimensions are significantly, positively related to academic ability, academic efforts, and academic internal control (r=0.099～0.302, P<0.01). While no significance relationship has been identified between ideal professional commitment and academic luck, professional commitment and all its dimensions are significantly, negatively related to academic background, academic luck and academic external control (r=-0.071～-0.218, P<0.05). In relation to interpersonal relationship scale, professional commitment and all its dimensions are significantly, positively related to interpersonal ability, interpersonal efforts and interpersonal internal control (r=0.065～-0.218, P<0.05), while significantly, negatively related to interpersonal background, interpersonal luck and interpersonal external control (r=-0.060～-0.083, P<0.05).4. Hierarchical Regression AnalysisControlling for demographical characteristics, this research conducts hierarchical regression analysis employing professional commitment as dependent variables as well as academic achievement attributions and interpersonal relationship attributions as independent variables. The results indicate that academic achievement attributions and interpersonal relationship attributions, added together, could contribute 14.2% of the variances in higher vocational nursing students’ professional commitment, with academic achievement attributions alone explaining 10.3% of the variances in professional commitment.Conclusions1. The professional commitment for higher vocational nursing students is moderate and needs to be improved.2. In relation to attributional styles, both academic achievement and interpersonal relationship have significant internal tendencies.3. Significant relationships can be found between professional commitment and attributional styles, with academic attribution as the main anticipatory variable.4. Helping higher vocational students to develop positive and optimistic attributional styles could be a possible way to improve professional commitment level.