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A comparison of adaptive competency acquisition between second level associate degree nursing students and licensed practical nursing graduate candidates
Abstract
The purpose of this quasi-experimental study, adapted from Kolb (1994) and Laschinger (1992), was to examine the differences of adaptive competency acquisition between Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) graduate candidates and second level Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) students. Adaptive competencies are those skills required to complete intuitive, inductive, problem-solving and people-oriented tasks. Two area community colleges participated in this study. The sample consisted of 30 LPN graduate nursing students and 41 second year ADN students. Participants completed the Adaptive Competency Profile (ACP), a Likert-type scaled self-assessment instrument. The results provided both individual scores and group means. For inferential purposes, the means of the ACP subscales were compared to determine adaptive competency acquisition. The t-test for independent samples was utilized to test significance. Four hypotheses were tested at a significance level of p =.05. The results of this study indicated that there was no significant difference in adaptive competency acquisition between second level ADN students and LPN graduate candidates. Further analyses were conducted to determine if there were any differences in adaptive competency acquisition by the community college attended, the college's program, students' gender, students' age level and students' previous health care experience. The results of the additional testing indicated that there were no significant differences for any variable examined. Based on the results of the study, the following conclusions were discussed: (1) The phenomenon of non-difference could be the result of the study's delimitations/limitations regarding sample size, sample makeup, and subject pool. (2) There appeared to be limited age, gender or health care experience barriers for LPN to ADN transition, allowing for assimilation into nursing programs. (3) There was a similarity between students' adaptive competency acquisition, program to program and college to college.
Subject Area
Nursing|Community colleges|Health education
Recommended Citation
Coyle-Rogers, Patricia Gerilyn, "A comparison of adaptive competency acquisition between second level associate degree nursing students and licensed practical nursing graduate candidates" (1998). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9839143.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9839143