Özet:

Background: Nursing is a branch of art and science-based on professional care. Nursing students’ professionalism attitudes and leadership behaviors should be examined to provide them with proper undergraduate education to help them develop and practice professionalism. Objective: To examine and describe professionalism attitudes and leadership behaviors among Turkish nursing students. Methods: The study population consisted of all nursing students (N=382) of a university in the 2018-2019 academic year. The sample consisted of 311 voluntary students. Data were collected using a demographic characteristics form, the Instrument of Professionalism Attitude for Student Nurses (IPASN), and the Youth Leadership Qualities Scale (YLQS). Findings: The mean age of participants was 20.13±1.56 years. Of participants, 81.4% were women, and 59.2% had an Anatolian high school degree. Participants had a mean IPASN and YLQS score of 65.03±15.90 and 3.80±0.75, respectively. They had the highest and lowest IPASN scores on the subscales “cooperation” (16.96±5.41) and “working in committees” (4.66±2.13), respectively. They had the highest and lowest YLQS scores on the subscales “trusting and being trustworthy” (3.98±0.84) and “the ability to communicate” (3.49±0.87), respectively. IPASN “cooperation” score was weakly positively correlated with YLQS total and subscale scores (r=.177 - .290; p<0.01). Conclusion:  Participants had low IPASN but high YLQS scores. Moreover, the higher the IPASN “cooperation” score, the higher the YLQS score. The results suggest that undergraduate education should focus on leadership, cooperation, and communication with interactive teaching methods to help nursing students develop professionalism and leadership qualities.

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