Factors motivating nursing students towards joining the nursing profession at selected nursing and midwifery schools in Rwanda.

Abstract

Background Worldwide, the growth and sustainability of the nursing profession depends, to a large extent, on the ability to recruit and retain the upcoming generation of nursing professionals. Although nurses and midwives constitute over fifty percent of the health workforce in many countries, the profession also faces challenges of shortage of nurses. The aim of this study is to explore factors motivating nursing students towards joining nursing profession. Moreover, little is known about motivating factors for joining the nursing profession among nursing students in Rwanda. Methodology This research used a quantitative approach and non-experimental descriptive cross-sectional design. The study population was four hundred and seventy eight (478) nursing students. Probability stratified simple random sampling technique was used to select 273 students who were included in the study sample. A self-administered questionnaire, adapted with permission from Prof. Nowak and Alison was used in data collection. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Both descriptive and inferential statistics was also used. Results Findings of this study revealed the intrinsic factors that motivate nursing students to join the nursing profession to be: Nursing as a caring profession, a humanitarian job, attraction to Nursing since their childhood/adolescence and feeling proud to be a nurse. About extrinsic factors that influence students to choose the nursing profession were identified as: Nursing profession guarantees the job security, it is easy to get permanent job, and there are a lot of job opportunities in Nursing, education advancement, and joined nursing profession for career diversity. Conclusion From the findings, it was revealed that intrinsic factors played more important roles than the extrinsic ones in motivating students to choose the nursing profession.