Participation of registered nurses in continuing education

摘要

This correlational study investigated the psychological types, learning style preferences,readiness for self-directed learning, demographic and continuing education participation data of154 registered nurses at two different Southern Ontario hospitals. One hospital was a largetertiary care university-affiliated teaching centre (Cityview) and the other was a smallersecondary care community hospital (Waterview). The instruments used in the study were thePET Type Check, Kolb's Learning Style Inventory, the Self-Directed Readiness Scale(SDLRS), and a Nursing Survey developed by the researcher. Descriptive statistics, crosstabulationsand correlational analyses were calculated. The most common psychological typesidentified among this sample of nurses were extraverted thinking, introverted intuitive andextraverted intuitive. There were no significant differences between the two hospitals.The accommodator learning style was preferred overall, with more nurses atWaterview Hospital preferring the diverger learning style, and more nurses at CityviewHospital preferring the accommodator learning style.The majority of nurses scored in the average and above average categories on theSDLRS, indicating that they perceive themselves as ready to engage in self-directed learning.At Cityview Hospital there were more nurses in the average and high readiness categories,whereas at Waterview Hospital more nurses scored in the below average category.No significant correlations were found for learning style with psychological type, or forlearning style with SDLRS scores.A positive correlation was found to exist between SDLRS scores and each of thepsychological types extraverted feelings, extraverted thinking, and introverted intuitive.The only significant correlation for psychological type and continuing educationactivity was a positive correlation between extraverted thinking types and participation ininformal discussion or study groups.Positive correlations were found for SDLRS scores with each of the followingcontinuing education activities; number of hours per month spent reading journals; journalreading; attendance at credit courses; watching videos; using reference texts.Further details of the results are included as well as a discussion of the findings andimplications for future research.