Socialization into nursing

Socialization Process and Nursing

A comprehensive review of prior studies into the socialization process in professional nursing (Murphy, Jones, Edwards, et al., 2008) compared ten primary studies consisting of four ethnographic studies, three descriptive qualitative studies, two grounded theory studies, and one phenomenological study from Australia, Canada, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. That comprehensive review concluded that several specific socialization factors influence the development of professional nurses and their career choice decisions and expectations; among them: the roles of professional mentors, peers, and role models (Murphy, Jones, Edwards, et al., 2008).

Another recent study (Price, 2009) set out to evaluate the evolution of or changes in caring behaviors in professional nurses by comparing their responses to questionnaires at different stages in their professional development. The study involved nursing students from the pre-registration nursing school period through completion of the third year of professional training.

The original hypothesis of that study was that individuals who select nursing as a career are naturally predisposed to high degrees of empathy and caring and that professional nursing training would nurture those attributes and contribute to their fuller expression in a manner proportional to their level of training and exposure to patient care. However, the results of the study suggested the opposite; namely, responses evidencing empathy and caring decreased as nursing students progressed to higher levels of professional training. According to the researcher (Price, 2009), those effects were most prominent among younger nursing students (i.e., younger than 26 years of age) as well as among those with no prior experience in medical care.

The Implications of the Socialization Process Studies in the Nursing Profession:

The implications of the Murphy, Jones, Edwards, et al. review (2008) suggest that professional mentors and role models have a strong influence on the development of professional nurses and that committed, ethical, and empathetic service on the part of those mentors and role models is associated directly with the development of similar approaches on the part of new nurses. That review also indicated that mentors and role models play an important role in helping new nurses form realistic career expectations that minimize dissatisfaction, disillusionment, and diminution of empathy in clinical settings (Murphy, Jones, Edwards, et al., 2008).

The implications of the Price study (2009) suggest that while individuals who choose nursing as a career do exhibit higher levels of empathy and caring as a group than the general population, those qualities are more likely to diminish through the entire course of professional nursing training. This result runs counterintuitive to expectations that professional nursing training would foster those predispositions and allow for their fuller development during professional training.