Predictors of academic success in first semester baccalaureate nursing students

Recently the number of students graduating from nursing programs has been insufficient to replace nurses leaving the workforce. The attrition rate for students entering baccalaureate nursing education programs is approximately 30%, with most (82.3%), leaving in their first semester of study (Morgan, 2001). Schools of nursing need to establish ways to decrease student attrition from programs. This study was an attempt to determine whether self-esteem, self-efficacy, and environmental variables are predictors of student attrition in first-semester baccalaureate nursing students, using a descriptive correlational design to explore the relationship between these variables in a non-probability convenience sample of 66 first semester baccalaureate nursing students. No statistically significant relationship between self-esteem, self-efficacy, or environmental variables and student attrition was revealed.