Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2013 May, 230(1)

Nursing Students' Learning Motivation Toward Technical Knowledge and Their Ethics Regarding Patients' Rights

YASUSHI KUDO,¹ SACHIKO HAYASHI,² EMIKO YOSHIMURA,³ AKITAKA SHIBUYA^1,4 and YOSHIHARU AIZAWA⁵

¹Department of Health Care Management, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara City, Kanagawa, Japan
²Faculty of Nursing, Mejiro University, Saitama City, Saitama, Japan
³Kawasaki City College of Nursing, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa, Japan
⁴Department of Risk Management and Health Care Administration, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara City, Kanagawa, Japan
⁵The Kitasato Institute, Kitasato University, Tokyo, Japan

Nursing students must develop their abilities to provide appropriate nursing services. They need to acquire the level of nursing knowledge to pass the national examination according to Japanese law. Moreover, even if the awareness of the rights of people who receive nursing services increases, students must not have a sense of resistance toward those rights. Therefore, we investigated the factors associated with students' motivation to pass their examination and such a sense of resistance. We produced items related to reasons students wanted to become registered nurses with reference to job satisfaction and their learning environment (e.g., teachers' manners and school events unrelated to the examination). There were 3,417 female nursing students analyzed in 29 vocational schools that allow graduation after a 3-year study period (average age, 21.93 years [standard deviation, 5.44]). Older and third-year students had a stronger motivation to pass the examination and a weaker sense of resistance to people's rights compared with younger and first- to second-year students. Students who answered a “Lack of enthusiasm for becoming a registered nurse” had a weakened motivation and a strengthened sense of resistance. Factors enhancing students' motivation to pass their examination were “Professional commitment,” “Desire for companionship,” and “School events unrelated to the national examination.” Factors strengthening students' sense of resistance to people's rights were “Living stability” and “Social appraisal.” Teachers must develop methods to teach ethics so that their students respect the rights of people who receive nursing services and to ensure that they acquire the necessary nursing knowledge.

keywords —— ethics; motivation; nurse education; nursing student; questionnaire

© 2013 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2013, 230, 33-42

Correspondence: Yasushi Kudo, Department of Health Care Management, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan.

e-mail: ykudo@med.kitasato-u.ac.jp