Motivational orientations of continuing nursing education participants

This non-experimental research study explored the motivational orientations/reasons and psychological motivational dimensions of life space and life chance of registered nurses participating in adult continuing nursing education. The psychological motivational dimensions were then related to participation/persistence and non-participation/drop out according to Roger Boshier's 1973 model of continuing education. This information is valuable to educators in identifying learning needs, planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating continuing education activities for registered nurses. The Education Participation Scale and a Demographic Survey were the tools utilized to collect data from 50 registered nurses attending three different "all day" (7-8 hours) non-college credit continuing nursing education classes offered by an education center in northwestern Pennsylvania. The characteristics of the total sample and statistical treatment/tests included determining the distribution of scores on the EPS for each of the seven motivational factors, the minimum/maximum score and range for each factor, the central tendency and variability for each factor, the Pearson product-moment correlations and the analysis of variance through the one way ANOVA: F-test. The level of significance utilized throughout was p=0.5. Significant motivational factors included professional advancement followed by cognitive interest and educational preparation. The first two factors identified are life space psychological motivational dimensions and the last factor listed is a life chance psychological dimension. According to Boshier’s model, registered nurses are more likely to participate and persist in continuing nursing education than to not participate or dropout. This prediction is dependent on congruency with self/others, and social, psychological, and subenvironmental variables.