Faculty Perceptions of Nursing Student Retention in Community College Associate Degree Programs: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

Abstract

Understanding the factors that influence nursing students to stay or leave a nursing program is vital to ensure our population has prepared nurses to care. Low student retention leads to fewer nurse graduates, negatively impacting the nursing shortage. Although several factors contribute to the nursing shortage, with many well beyond the influence of nursing education programs, student retention is a factor where nurse educators can play a pivotal role. Research indicates that students perceive faculty relationships as influential to their success, satisfaction and retention in education programs. However, a gap in the literature exists on faculty perspectives of student retention, especially in nursing. As nurse faculty are also nurses and represent the profession the students are preparing to enter, their interactions with students are likely relevant to student perceptions about the profession and likely affect students’ commitment to persist through their nursing programs. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe current nursing student retention practices from the perspective of faculty teaching in community college associate degree nursing programs located in the south-central United States. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to answer the following questions: 1) How do faculty teaching in community college associate degree nursing programs describe current student retention practices? 2) What are nursing faculty perceptions of current retention practices? 3) What are nursing faculty recommendations for retention practices? Results of the data analysis revealed three categories. Category 1, Organizational Influences, describes elements of schools outside of faculty control and decision-making that affect faculty roles. Category 2, The Scope of Faculty, describes the attributes and behaviors of faculty, and the student retention strategies used in their programs. Category 3, The Perspective on Students, describes faculty’s thoughts on what influenced their students’ performances in school. Faculty perspectives on nursing student retention included strategies used to help students, such as individual meetings, test reviews, and caring behaviors. Compromising admission criteria and standards, degrading, and punishing students did not positively contribute to retention. Recommendations of practices and strategies are provided for other community college nursing faculty.