The Perceptions about Their Profession of Kosovo`s Nursing Students

Background and Aim: Nurses are key to the health of the nation. Nursing can be described as both an art and a science; a heart and a mind. The aim of this study is to evidence the students' perceptions about the profession of nursing. This is a cross-sectional study.

Study Design: The research question is: "What are the nursing students’ perceptions about the profession of nursing?"

Methodology: The study was realized during the period of January- February 2021. The study was conducted with nursing students in first, second and third year of study, in bachelor degree of University of Pristina "AAB College" Kosovo, Faculty of Nursing, Department of Nursing, Kosovo. In this study were included n=130 students, respectively (n= 29, 22.3% in first year, n=57, 43.8% second year and n= 44, 33.8% in third year of study). The questionnaire “Cockrell-Punter Nursing Perceptions Scale” used consisted of 25 perception statements related to nursing. These scores no longer reflected simply agreement/disagreement, but as positive or negative perceptions of nursing with a scale values ranged from 1=negative perception to 5=positive perception. The survey performed in classroom was anonymous. All data collected were elaborated with SPSS version 19.

Results: In this study, 22.3% (n=29) of students were male and 77.7% (n=101) were female. Age ranged from 18 to 47 years old. The average age is 21.9 years old. The distribution of student’s age was: (8.5% were 18 years old, 18.5%, 19 years old, 27.7% 20 years old, 19.2% were 21 years old and 26.1% were over 21 years old) mean 19.8 years old, min 18 years old, maximum 47 year old, Std. Dev ± 4.19. According to the residence, 88 (67.7%) of students were from urban area and 42 (32.3%) from rural area.

Conclusion: Nursing students have good perception about the nursing profession. With age the level of perception increases, so the oldest have more positive perception.