Training Effects on Attitudes and Personality Characteristics of Nurse Practitioners

Abstract

Three psychological measurements were obtained on applicants to a pediatric nurse practitioner program. 67 were enrolled in the program, the remaining 51 were rejected, withdrew their applications, or did not complete their applications. 43 of the 67 students who entered the program were re-administered Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, Budner's Intolerance of Ambiguity Scale and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator at the end of the program and at 1-yr. post-graduation. Students tended to be more introverted, more perceptive, and more externally controlled at the end of the program than on entry. One year after graduation the nurses' profiles on all of the psychological measurements tended to resemble those obtained on entry to the program. These findings indicate that, while new skills can be learned by a select group of highly motivated nurses in 4 mo., the practitioner's attitudes will probably vary with their perceived expectations of particular situations.