Levels and Predictors of Assertiveness among Nursing Students in a North-Central State in Nigeria: A Descriptive, Comparative Study

Résumé fourni par la source

Assertiveness is a required behaviour in the preparation of professional nurses. In Nigeria, nurses’ training takes place at both hospital-and university-based training institutions. Assertiveness and its predictors in the transition to professional nurses lacks sufficient empirical investigation in Nigeria. This study investigated the levels and predictors of assertiveness among nursing students in Nursing Training Institutions (NTIs) in Kwara State, Nigeria, with a view to comparing both the hospital-based and university-based nursing students. Adopting a quantitative, descriptive cross sectional and comparative design, data were collected from a random sample of 454 nursing students in the four NTIs in the State, using a self-administered, structured questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic characteristics, Big-F Factor Personality Inventory and Formative Assertiveness Questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted to analyses data using SPSS (Version 25). Spearman coefficient analysis fixed at the 0.05 level of significance, used to determine predictors of assertive behaviors. Results revealed predominantly the young, female, unmarried nursing students and mainly from the Yoruba ethnic extraction, in their early training. Overall, 22.7% reported being non-assertive; 64.8% (n=294) had low assertiveness and 12.5% (57) high assertiveness. University-based students were more likely to be assertive than their hospital-based counterparts (24.9%), although this is not statistically significant (p-value = 0.367). Analysis of personality types indicated that Openness was the predominant personality (48.5%); the least being Extroversion (9.5%). As predictors, age, gender, level and place of training, marital as well as ethnic and religious affiliations were poor predictors of assertiveness; personality types were however very strong predictors of assertiveness (p-value = 0.00), with the neuroticism predicting low assertiveness while Extroversion and Agreeableness predicted high levels of assertiveness. The study concludes that personality types are perfect predictors of the levels of assertiveness among nursing students. Personality types should also be considered in selection of nurses for trainings and where necessary, personality modification should also form part of the overall nursing training as early as possible.

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