The Compatibility of Students’ Personality for Studying Nursing and Working in their Profession

Introduction. The high rate of attrition among nursing students and their lack of interest for continuing their profession have caused some nursing leaders to think about the necessity of considering the students’ personality during the process of admission to nursing schools. Due to the lack of studies on Iranian nursing students’ personality, this study was designed to determine the freshmen's personality characteristics and their compatibility with the demands of nursing profession. Methods. A descriptive study was conducted at Tehran and Kashan medical universities and one of the Azad universities. Convenience sampling was used and 52 first year nursing students were assessed using Holland vocational interest inventory. Results. Sixty three point five percent of students were female, 36.5% were male and their mean age was 22±1.2 years. Based on the Holland’s vocational interest inventory, 44% did not have appropriate personality characteristics for the nursing profession. Seventy seven percent of nursing students believed that they lacked enough information about nursing at the time of selecting nursing as their discipline of study. Conclusion. Considering their most salient characteristics, almost half of nursing students were not compatible with the necessary requirements for nursing profession. It is recommended to use personality tests for selecting the best students for nursing schools among those who show good academic capabilities.