The Effects of Career Education on Career Development for Nursing Students

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to build the career education course for nursing students' career development and to identify the effects of the education. Method: The study used a one-group pre- and post-test design and the surveys were carried out from April to June, 2011. The participants were 71 undergraduate seniors of department of nursing in E university. The data were obtained via questionnaires survey before and after taking the course. The collected data were analyzed by paired t-test using SPSS 19. Results: 88.7% of the subjects responded being satisfied with their major. The scores of career search efficacy (t=-2.57, p=.012), career exploration (t=-4.62, p<.001), and career adaptability (t=-3.51, p=.001) showed statistically significant improvement after the education. Networking (t=-2.66, p=.010) and personal exploration efficacy (t=-2.89, p=.005) showed statistically significant difference between pre- and post-test. Between two subgroup of career exploration, only the environment exploration (t=-5.92, p<.001) significantly improved. However, there was no significant difference in career identity. Conclusion: From this study, career education showed significant effects on the career search efficacy, career exploration, and career adaptability of nursing students. These findings suggest that career education as a subject would be an efficient way for career development of nursing students.