MEANING, DISCREPANCY, AND SATISFACTION IN THE NURSE ROLE

Abstract

What it means to be a nurse has changed over time. This article explores the changing meanings for the nurse role in a sample of Bachelor of Science nursing students by analyzing 30 nurse role attributes documented in the nursing literature. Students' perceptions of obligatory and self-in-role meanings are assessed, and multiple role meaning dimensions are identified. Identity-discrepancy theory is used to determine whether discrepancies between obligatory and self-in-role meanings are related to role satisfaction. Findings suggest that discrepancies in some nurse role meaning dimensions are predictive of role satisfaction. The implications for role exit and the nursing shortage are discussed.

Special thanks to Will Dulaney and anonymous Sociological Spectrum reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Notes

The two questions asked were:

On a scale of 1–10, where 1 equals “not at all” and 10 equals “very much,” rate how important you think each attribute is for being a nurse IN GENERAL.

On a scale of 1–10, where 1 equals “not at all” and 10 equals “very much,” rate how well YOU embody each of these attributes as a nurse.

Means are presented (standard deviations are in parentheses).

⁺ p < .10; ∗p < .05; ∗∗p < .01; ∗∗∗p < .001.

Obligatory attributes reflect how important each attribute is for being a nurse IN GENERAL.

Extraction = Principal Components Analysis, Rotation = Varimax.

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy = .836.

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity = (Chi-square) 2047.05, (df) 435, p < .001.

∗p < .05, ∗∗p < .01, ∗∗∗p < .001.

Factor 1 discrepancy range (7 items) = −24 to 18.

Factor 2 discrepancy range (7 items) = −30 to 19.

Factor 3 discrepancy range (5 items) = −13 to 13.

Factor 4 discrepancy range (5 items) = −12 to 9.

Factor 5 discrepancy range (3 items) = −9 to 13.

Factor 6 discrepancy range (3 items) = −8 to 10.