TITLE:
Factors That Restrict or Support Retention among RN-to-BSN Nursing Students: A Replication Study
AUTHORS:
Brelinda Kern
KEYWORDS:
Nursing; RN-to-BSN; Retention
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.4 No.4,
April
18,
2014
ABSTRACT:
RN-to-BSN nursing
programs fulfill a needed link to the BSN degree for nurses who hold associate
or diploma degrees. Although enrollment rates are currently on the rise for all
nursing programs retention remains an issue. Improving retention in nursing
education, particularly RN-to-BSN programs, will help meet the demands for increasing
numbers of BSN-educated nurses. The purpose of this study was to describe
factors that restricted or promoted retention among RN-to-BSN students and
examine if there was a difference in the measure of these factors between a
group of senior students and junior students. Jeffreys’ (2004) nursing
undergraduate retention and success (NURS) model, a conceptual framework, was
used to guide the study. A non-experimental, descriptive, comparison design was
used. This study was a replication of Jeffreys’ (2007) study utilizing a
different population of RN-to-BSN students. Analysis was completed by
descriptive techniques, and comparisons were made using independent t-tests. No significance
was found between junior status students and senior status students for five
factors of retention. Although all of the factors were found to be supportive,
environmental factors were the least supportive and support from family and
friends was found to the most
supportive. More studies are needed focused on the RN-to-BSN student population to validate the findings of this study
related to factors that restrict and support retention among this
population so strategies can be developed to address the issues.