Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1994

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Educational Administration

Major Professor

E. Grady Bogue

Abstract

In compliance with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), nursing programs may not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities. For the purposes of nursing program compliance, a "qualified individual with a disability" is one who, with or without reasonable accommodation meets the essential requirements for participation in the program. The Southern Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing (SCCEN), developed the Core Performance Standards for nursing schools to use as guidelines in determining a student's abilities to perform these identified essential functions. The purpose of this study was to determine if the SCCEN member schools of nursing were implementing the Core Performance Standards. Two questions related to the purpose were: Among those schools implementing the standards; 1) Have they revised the standards? and 2) What methods are they using to assess a student's ability to meet these standards? The 191 SCCEN member schools of nursing were surveyed by mail questionnaire. Fourteen states in the southeastern region of the United States were represented. Questionnaires were returned by 116 schools representing a 61 percent response rate. The survey instrument was developed by the researcher with review by a panel of experts. Thirty-nine of forty-six directors of nursing programs (85 percent) responded to telephone interviews and answered questions concerning the assessment methods they had developed to determine a student's abilities. Findings included: 1) All 191 programs had received information about the SCCEN standards. Of the 116 programs responding, 40.7 percent reported including the standards in their admissions process while 59.3 percent did not. 2) The majority of schools using the standards were using them as written. 3) There was no impact on the decision to implement the standards based on program characteristics of program type, governance, or size of class. 4) Of the 39 directors that responded to the telephone interviews, none had assessment methods in place for students with disabilities. The researcher concluded that schools of nursing need to provide a list of performance standards to potential students in order to assist students in making a responsible, knowledgeable decision about nursing school and its requirements. Guidelines for school policy formation, recommendations for professional organization involvement in this issue; and implications for future research were also provided.

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