Abstract
The purpose of the proposed study is to investigate the effects of student nurses’ self-efficiency levels on their actual performance. Based on Albert Bandura’s theory of self-efficiency, the proposed research will compare the perceived abilities of the participants before and after they were exposed to the orientation course. Perceived self-efficiency is important in the nursing profession due to the delicate nature of activities nurses must perform. The nurses’ levels of self-efficiency are assessed six months after they commence the orientation course and their performances are evaluated. The effect of demographic characteristics on nurses’ perceptions of self-efficiency is also evaluated to identify the variables that improve or hinder performance.
Introduction
Employee skills are important and contribute to the overall performance of any system. However, employees’ awareness of these skills may increase their confidence in accomplishing assigned tasks. The proposed study will investigate the level of perceived self-efficiency associated with the performance of nursing activities among graduate nurses who commenced the acute care internship program. An essential part of the internship program is the educational activities organized by the healthcare system’s academic team and nurse supervisors. In line with the suggestions of self-efficiency proposed by Albert Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory, the proposed research will determine how past nursing experience may influence the perception of efficiency and the level of change in these perceptions over six months. The research will investigate what significant variations may exist for the selected sample in the six nursing areas in the questionnaire, which include nurse-client Interaction, health campaigns, illness-injury deterrence, recovery-supportive assistance, rehabilitative assistance, and specialized procedures. These variations may show flaws within nursing areas shown by lower score procedures. The proposed research study will investigate the relationship between self-efficiency perception and the participants’ demographic features.
Problem Statement
The causes of self-efficiency perception offered in Albert Bandura’s Theory, including, enactive achievement, secondhand experience, oral encouragement, and physical response are exhibited as student nurses evolve into professional nursing practitioners. Bandura’s stages happen through implementing nursing activities (enactive achievement), socialization (secondhand experience), and professional partnership assistantship (oral encouragement) (Bandura, 2009).
The proposed research will be based on the following research questions:
- What are the self-efficiency perceptions of graduate nurses before they start the acute care course?
- What changes in self-efficiency perception occur after graduate nurses complete the acute care course?
- How do demographic factors influence the self-efficiency perception levels of the participants?
Review of Literature
Self-efficiency refers to the individual discernments of performance abilities in a particular situation wherein the required tasks are new, erratic, and potentially demanding (Bandura, 2009). Albert Bandura’s theory of self-efficiency suggests that anticipated personal efficiency influences the instigation of adaptive attitudes, the amount of effort expended and the duration these efforts will be maintained in the presence of problems and aversive practices. A person’s self-efficiency is not a function of their skill level but an assessment of what can be done with their skills (Luszczynska, Tryburcy & Schwarzer, 2007). Bandura (2009) proposed four categories of practices that develop self-efficiency perception, which include enactive achievement, secondhand experience, oral encouragement, and physical response. He suggested that physical response was the most effective factor of self-efficiency because people understand their aptitude to execute tasks through practice.
Research has indicated that people that have a low sense of self-efficiency for obtaining intellectual abilities may try to evade tasks, while those who consider themselves more effectively engage with enthusiasm, perseverance, and motivation (Luszczynska, Tryburcy & Schwarzer, 2007). In their study, Wood and Bandura (2009) resolved that people who show high self-efficiency were more likely to engage in challenging activities, persevere longer, and achieve more than people with inferior self-efficiency opinions. On the other hand, low self-efficiency, and low self-regard may hinder success amongst student nurses (Luszczynska, Tryburcy & Schwarzer, 2007).
Self-efficiency is important in student nurses because of the positive effects it has on their experiential performance. In the literature on work accomplishment, the level of personal self-efficiency has been indicated to positively influence motivation, strategic decisiveness, and perseverance in task implementation (Bontis, Hardie & Serenko, 2008; Luszczynska, Schwarzer, Lippke & Mazurkiewicz, 2011). Quantitative research has also proven that the connection between self-efficiency and job-based accomplishment is regulated by task difficulty and the setting of the job execution (Schwarzer & Hallum, 2008). Thus, an increase in the difficulty of the job reduces the influence of self-efficiency behaviors. Nevertheless, the difficulty of job execution may be controlled by an employee’s intellectual aptitude and thoroughness (Bontis, Hardie & Serenko, 2008). Research has shown a significant relationship between intellectual sources and clinical operation among student nurses and recommends that the information required to accomplish specific jobs inspires proficient execution (Schwarzer & Hallum, 2008). These ideologies support the significance of an individual’s training in executing specific nursing activities of high difficulty.
Bandura (2009) further suggested that with a feeling of self-efficiency, individuals learn faster than their counterparts with low self-efficiency perceptions. Workers with high perceptual self-efficiency are more probable to perform professional tasks inventively, whereas those with low feelings of self-efficiency are likely to execute with limited personal motivation (Schwarzer & Hallum, 2008). Consequently, achievement and fulfillment are related to occupational satisfaction and offer the motivation for sustained participation in progressively complex openings (Bontis, Hardie & Serenko, 2008). Accordingly, research shows that the fulfillment of new nurses is significant in defining their opinions about remaining in their occupation (Bandura, 2009).
The level of self-efficiency among students when they evolve to intensive care professional nurses is yet to be reported in the research. Furthermore, previous studies do not show a level of alteration, in the self-efficacy opinions of new nurses after they complete their official acute care courses and engage in mentoring activities.
Self-efficiency depends on setting or scenario and assessment methods must be created with regards to a specific activity or job (Bandura, 2009). Thus, the proposed study will use a research tool, titled The Self-Efficiency for Expert Nursing Capabilities Tool to assess self-efficiency opinions of nursing abilities and behaviors necessary for proficient practice within the intensive care context. Precisely, the study of the nurses’ efficiency perceptions will be evaluated under six nursing categories, which include nurse-client interactions, illness inhibition, health campaign, healing assistance, therapeutic assistance, and specialized procedures.
Methods Section
The proposed study will use a quasi-experimental mono-sample pre-examination and post-examination design to investigate the level of self-efficiency at the commencement of intensive nursing orientation for and six months after formal inclusion, preceptor coaching, and independent functioning as professional nurses. The benefit of the proposed method is an aptitude to determine the strength of the dependent variable before orientation training activities and the changes that may occur after the events.
The proposed method may be effective in offering a reference point against which to link the influences of the action or the teaching activities that will be applied during the research. Participants will be sought from eighty nursing practitioners beginning their training at an intensive care healthcare center during January, February, and March 2016. Potential participants will be screened to assess their English proficiency and to ensure they are registered with a nationally recognized nursing association.
Procedure
The researcher will obtain written authorization to perform the proposed study from a recognized board of intensive care practice. An informed consent form will be filled out by each participant showing their readiness to engage in the research. Participants will be provided a guarantee that involvement is voluntary, discounting is permissible, and contribution or non-contribution will not influence their employment positions.
Participants will be asked to complete the survey questionnaire and a demographic form before they commence the intensive care training program. The researcher will conduct uninterrupted thirty-minute data gathering periods with the research participants. Each participant will be provided instructions on how to respond to the survey instruments and how to enter a numeric code on the questionnaires for effective linking to the posttest questionnaires, which will be completed six months after the pretest. Each participant will be contacted after six months and requested to fill the survey instrument for the second time. Data derived from the follow-up assessment will be linked to that obtained from the pretest to evaluate how the Theory of Self-Efficacy affected posttest results. Participants will be given a $10 gift voucher after they complete the survey instrument for the second time.
Data Analysis
The data analysis for the proposed research will be derived using SPSS Version 13 for Windows. Statistical tests will include the paired sample t-tests to link pretest and posttest results, and the Analysis of Variance test to investigate the association between demographic features and self-efficiency rankings.
Discussion and Findings Section
The discussion and findings will highlight the results derived from the data analysis. Statistics, such as the response rates, demographics statistics, test results, and analysis will be presented in the discussion and findings chapter of the proposed study. The discussion and findings chapter will discuss the data concerning the theories developed in the literature review.
The proposed study seeks to investigate the level of professed self-efficiency associated with the functioning of selected nursing activities among new nursing trainees. Internal and external validity may be threatened, which makes it necessary for the researcher to develop strategies to control the probability of error and increase the possibility that the study’s results will be correct and significantly reflect reality. The proposed use of a purposeful homogenous sample will ensure validity and facilitate the generation of generalizable conclusions.
Conclusion
The proposed study will investigate the influence of perceived self-perception on the performance and skill development of new nursing professionals engaged in an orientation and internship course. Although the literature review showed that perceived self-efficiency has a positive effect on the accomplishment of individuals, it is important to identify the efficacy of that claim by analyzing primary data. The primary data will be derived by distributing questionnaires to eighty nursing practitioners engaged in the intensive care course and their responses, before and after they enroll in the course, will inform the findings.
References
Bandura, A. & Wood, R. (2009). Effect of perceived controllability and performance standards on self-regulation of complex decision making. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(5), 805-814.
Bandura, A. (2009). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology 52(1), 1–26.
Bontis, N., Hardie, T. & Serenko, A. (2008). Self-efficacy and KM course weighting selection: Can students optimize their grades? International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies, 1(3), 189-199.
Luszczynska, A., Schwarzer, R., Lippke, S. & Mazurkiewicz, M. (2011). Self-efficacy as a moderator of the planning-behavior relationship in interventions designed to promote physical activity. Psychology & Health, 26(3), 151–166.
Luszczynska, A., Tryburcy, M. & Schwarzer, R. (2007). Improving fruit and vegetable consumption: A self-efficacy intervention compared to a combined self-efficacy and planning intervention. Health Education Research, 22(8), 630–638.
Schwarzer, R. & Hallum, S. (2008). Perceived teacher self-efficacy as a predictor of job stress and burnout: Mediation analysis. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57(3), 152-171.