BARRIERS TO HIGHER EDUCATION AMONG NURSES OF BACCALAUREATE DEGREE PROGRAM IN THREE SELECTED INSTITUTES OF PESHAWAR, KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Introduction: Advancement in education and globalization require enhanced opportunities of higher education for nursing students in degree programs. Even though government has worked on this and established nursing colleges, yet nurses face challenges in pursuing higher education. The barriers in this regards are implicit in nature; hence it is desirable that a study be done to determine the perceived barriers that have become hurdles in acquisition of higher degree in nursing profession in the region.

Materials & Methods: This was a cross sectional survey conducted from November to December 2015 on nursing students of three selected Nursing Colleges of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A self-administered questionnaire which included questions regarding barriers to acquisition of higher education in nursing was used for data collection through convenience sampling and after informed consent. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20.0.

Results: A total of 136 nursing students of both genders (21, 15.4% male and 115, 84.6% female) responded; the mean age was 31.5± 6.8 years and 72 (53%) were married. The barriers to nursing education were broadly divided into Personal Level problems such as family approval for higher education (51.1%), financial problems (49.6%),  personal indecision for higher education (46.3%), fear of passing higher education examinations (46.1%), fear of losing job (34.8%) and fear of losing family support (34.1%); and Organizational Problems such as lack of poor policy for professional growth (91.5%, followed by lack of formal pay scale (89.4%) and lack of job structure (82.2%).

Conclusion: Although nurses pay due attention to professional growth, they face multiple challenges such as financial, family and organizational barriers to achieving their professional development.