Senior-year Students Research Articles

Factors Influencing Job Selection of New Physical Therapy Graduates

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influence new physical therapy graduates in job selection. Senior-year students from 14 randomly selected physical therapy programs were surveyed one month prior to graduation. Respondents were asked to rank order 14 factors that may have influenced their decision to select a particular job. Data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis Test for significant rank order followed by the Mann-Whitney Test to compare specific variable medians. Students ranked salary, location, and type of clientele significantly higher (P<.05) than they ranked benefits and physical facilities. Benefits, however, were rated significantly more important (P<.05) than advancement opportunity, continuing education, and tuition assistance. Sign-on bonuses, previous employment at the facility, and relocation expenses were ranked as the least important factors influencing job selection.

Bench-Marking Effects in the Blaming of Professionals for Incidents of Aggression and Assault

This study compared all possible orders of responding to three vignettes describing incidents between a male patient and a female nurse in which the nurse is mildly assaulted, severely assaulted, or verbally abused by the patient (the control condition). Subjects were 32 female senior-year nursing students and 28 practicing nurses. It was found that response levels to a given vignette could predict a respondent's response to the other vignettes. Also, a significant "bench-marking" effect was found: if a subject responded to the mild assault vignette first, the subject's overall response pattern best fit the general nonlinear assignment-of-blame pattern observed, but if the subject responded to the severe assault or control vignette first, this vignette set a bench mark for responding from which the subject's subsequent responses did not deviate greatly, which slightly distorted the subject's V-shaped nonlinear response pattern.

Nursing Students’ Stress Levels, Attitude Toward Drugs, and Drug Use

This study investigated relationships among nursing students’ drug use and two variables usually assumed to contribute to the development of chemical dependency in nurses, i.e., stress and positive attitudes about drugs. Drug use was defined as the use of any psychoactive substance including prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, recreational drugs, nicotine, and alcohol. Questionnaires were distributed to senior-year nursing students and a comparison group of seniors in liberal arts. The only significant difference in reported drug use was nursing students’ more frequent use of over-the-counter analgesics. There were no significant differences between nursing and liberal arts majors with regard to three symptoms of stress. Nursing students reported more positive attitudes toward the use of some drugs than peers.