Motivators for nurse educators to persist in their profession: A phenomenological research study

Abstract

Background: Nursing education has increasing challenges for recruiting and retaining nurse educators. Qualitatively understanding nurse educators' motivators to persist within the field assisted in understanding nursing education practices that retained participants.

Objectives: This study explored nurse educators' motivators to uncover factors that influenced their decisions to persist in the profession.

Design: Phenomenological qualitative study.

Settings: Participants worked in one of three purposefully selected universities-two in the midwestern and one in the southwestern United States.

Participants: Nurse educators (n = 16) who were teaching in nursing academic settings, had taught in academia for at least five concurrent years, and planned to continue teaching in nursing. All participants had worked as nurses in clinical settings prior to becoming nurse educators.

Methods: This qualitative study followed Moustakas' (1994) phenomenological methodology, utilizing criterion sampling, semi-structured interviews, and verbatim transcription. Analyses included open coding, theming, and horizontalization. Researchers established methodological rigor through data saturation, audit trails, confirmability audits, dependability audits, emic and etic triangulations, epoche, member checking, inquiry audit, negative case analysis, prolonged engagement with data, reflexivity, and thick descriptions.

Results: Findings included intrinsic and extrinsic motivators comprising participants' persistence in the professional field of nursing education. Sub-aspects of intrinsic motivators included love of teaching, desire to learn more, satisfaction from professional service, and seeking professional challenges. Sub-aspects of extrinsic motivators included flexibility and professional advancement/opportunities.

Conclusions: Participants experienced more intrinsic than extrinsic motivators regarding their persistence in the profession. Nurse educators were attracted to and remained in academia when academic settings provided them with the opportunity to advance their formal education.

Keywords: Extrinsic motivators; Faculty retentio; Intrinsic motivators; Nursing faculty; Persistence; Work-life balance.