Bayer, Alan E., and Lyle F. Schoenfeldt. 1970. "Student Interchangeability in Three-Year and Four-Year Nursing Programs." Journal of Human Resources 5(1):71-88.

This paper reports analyses of measures of interests and personality, scores on aptitude and achievement tests, and data on personal and background variables, from a national longitudinal survey which included first-year nursing students and recent nursing graduates. Nurses in three-year diploma programs are shown to exhibit aptitude, achievement, interests, and personality traits similar to girls in four-year baccalaureate programs. However, girls in diploma programs have neither the necessary goal-orientation nor often the economic means to substitute a four-year program for a three-year one. While the national need for professional nurses is increasingly rapidly, if efforts are not undertaken to compensate for these differences among nursing students, and if the current proposal to phase out three-year nursing programs is implemented, an actual future decrease in the number of young people entering the nursing field may result.

Dr. Bayer is Research Sociologist, Office of Research, American Council on Education, and Dr. Schoenfeldt is Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia. The research reported herein uses data collected in conjunction with Project TALENT, a study being carried out by the American Institutes for Research and the University of Pittsburgh pursuant to a contract with the U.S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (Contract No. OE-6-10-065, Project No. 3051). We are indebted to Mrs. Barbara Roudabush, R.N., for a number of helpful comments and suggestions on an early draft of the paper.

© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

US ISSN 0022-166X

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