Nursing students attitudes towards the nursing profession and specialization in nursing

This study aimed to examine the relationship between professional attitudes and attitudes towards specialization of nursing students. The study, which was planned as a descriptive-correlation research design, was conducted with 266 nursing students studying at Adıyaman University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing between 06.12.2024 and 16.01.2025. Data were collected and analyzed through face-to-face interviews using the "Descriptive Characteristics Form," "Attitude Scale for Nursing Profession" (ASNP) and "Attitude Scale Towards Nursing Specialization" (ASTNS). 68.4% of the participating students were female, and the mean age was 20.70±3.051. The mean total score of the nursing students participating in our study was calculated as 73.16 ± 12.04 on the ASTNS and 151.23 ± 17.51 on the ASNP. In addition, a positive moderate correlation was determined between the total score of the Attitude Scale Towards Nursing Specialization and the total and sub-dimensions of the Attitude Scale for Nursing Profession (r: 0.436; r: 0.310; r: 0.41; r: 0.447; p<0.01). The attitude towards the nursing profession scale explained 19.7% of the variance in the attitude towards specialization scale scores (R² = 0.197). Based on these findings, it is of great importance for institutions providing nursing education to adopt holistic policies that will improve students' professional attitudes and tendencies towards specialization. Keywords: Nursing; Student; Specialization; Professional Attitude