Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Nursing Students and Reasons of Choosing Nursing as a Career

Purpose: This descriptive study was conducted to define the sociodemographic characteristics of the nursing students and reasons of choosing nursing as a career.

Method: This study conducted in 2006 included 295 students from two nursing schools volunteering to participate in the study. The findings were collected with Student Information Form. The findings were collected with Student Information Form.

Results: Mean age of students who participated in the study was 20.92 ± 1.66, most of them were living in part of Central Anatolia, in the center of city and dormitory. In 45.8 %, nursing was among the first five preferences. They came to nursing school with reasons such as not being left out of education process, the preference of the family, helping others, job opportunities, interest in nursing as ideal profession and having a role model who was a nurse in family.

Conclusion: Education staff should assume responsibility in the evaluation of the opinions of the students on professon during the process of eductaion and of their readiness for working in this field prior to graduation.