Comparison of Personal characteristics: high and low ability student nurses and year of training in New Zealand

Seventy-five student nurses at the Southland Hospital, Invercargill, New Zealand, were assessed independently by ward and tutorial staff on a 5-point scale rating the quality of their work. Comparisons of high and low ability students were then made on scores from the following instruments: Rokeach Dogmatism Scale, Wilson-Patterson Conservatism Scale, Allport-Vernon-Lindsey Study of Values, Cattell 16 Personality Factors Test, and the Shostrom Personal Orientation Inventory. t tests of significant differences between means revealed the following profiles for the high ability student nurse: (a) comparison based on ward staff ratings of ability: conservative, religious, dogmatic, and low on political and economic values: (b) comparison based on tutorial staff ratings of ability: relaxed, higher on social values, and tends to live in the past or future rather than the present. A comparison of the 3 years showed that the student nurse most likely to stay in the program had the following profile: more political, less religious, less acceptant of aggression, and higher ward rating.