Nursing Student Retention: Understanding the Process and Making a Difference

In the current nursing shortage, student retention is a priority concern for nurse educators, health care institutions, and the patients they serve. This book presents an organizing framework for understanding student retention, identifying at-risk students, and developing both diagnostic-prescriptive strategies to facilitate success and innovations in teaching and educational research. The author's conceptual model for student retention, "Nursing Undergraduate Retention and Success," is interwoven throughout, along with essential information for developing, implementing, and evaluating retention strategies. An entire chapter is devoted to how to set up a Student Resource Center. Most chapters conclude with "Educator-in-Action" vignettes, which help illustrate practical application of strategies discussed. Nurse educators at all levels will find this an important resource.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I: Understanding the Multidimensional Process of Student Retention

1. Overview of Student Retention
2. Student Profile Characteristics
3. Cultural Values and Beliefs, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation: Important Considerations
4. Academic Factors
5. Environmental Factors
6. Professional Integration and Socialization
7. Academic and Psychological Outcomes
8. The Outside Climate: Forecast, Impact, and Action
9. Dropout, Stopout, or Go On?

Part II: Making a Difference: Promoting Retention and Success

10. Nursing Faculty Advisement and Helpfulness: A Culturally Congruent Approach
11. Expanding the Web of Inclusion through Professional Events and Memberships
12. Promoting Positive and Productive Peer Partnerships
13. Enrichment Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation
14. The Nursing Student Resource Center: A Place for Linking Strategies Together
15. Future Directions: A Vision for Tomorrow

Appendix A: Student Perception Appraisal-1 (SPA-1)--Pretest
Appendix B: Student Perception Appraisal-2 (SPA-2)--Post-test
Appendix C: Enrichment Program Satisfaction Survey
Appendix D: Nursing Student Resource Center Satisfaction Survey
Appendix E: Student Withdrawal Questionnaire
Appendix F: Demographic Data Survey
Index