Perception of Nursing Profession among International Nursing Students

Objective: This study aims to explore perceptions of the nursing profession and the factors that influence them. Methods: This descriptive study on the perception of the nursing profession among international students had a sample of 212 people, and the data were collected via an online survey in the second week of February 2023 and lasted 30 days. The data were collected using the Descriptive Information Form and the Nurses' Professional Values Scale-3, which were prepared by the researcher based on literature. In the statistical analysis of the data, the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) 24.0 for Windows Evaluation package program was used, and arithmetic mean, number and percentage, Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis Variance Analysis methods were used. Results: It was determined that 56.1% (n=119) of the participants were female and 48.1% (n=102) of the participants were between 21-25 years of age. When the marital status of the participants was analyzed, it was found that 87.7% (n=186) were single. In this study, the mean score of the professional values scale of student nurses was 88.90±11.02, indicating that the majority of students had a positive perspective towards the nursing profession. Conclusions: Based on the current study, nursing students generally had good perspectives toward the nursing profession. The research findings indicate that the attitudes of the participants towards the nursing profession were influenced by various factors, including gender, marital status and family status.