Date of Award

Summer 2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Committee Chair

Tina Lewis

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the attitudes of undergraduate nursing students toward mental illness, and the interest in choosing psychiatric nursing as a desirable career choice. Methodology: A nonexperimental descriptive study design was chosen for this study. Sample size of 18 undergraduate nursing students participated in the self-reported survey, The Mental Health Nursing Education Survey (MHNES) Part 2. This survey has 43-items that report the attitudes and beliefs toward people diagnosed with mental illness and towards mental health nursing and scored on a 7-point Likert Scale. Findings: Data reported from the survey report that the nursing students have a foundation of knowledge of mental illness and the role of the psychiatric nurse. The students also report a positive experience during their psychiatric clinical. The students report a negative attitude toward mental illness and have a disinterest in pursuing a career as a psychiatric/mental health nurse. Conclusion: The results from this study report the need for increase need for psychiatric/mental health nurses. The factors of attitudes that undergraduate nursing students have toward mental illness and mental health nursing can be affected by their clinical experience.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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