The wicked problem of healthcare student attrition
Hamshire, Claire ; Jack, Kirsten ; Forsyth, Rachel LU
; Langan, A. Mark
and Harris, W. Edwin
(2019)
In Nursing Inquiry
26(3).
- Abstract
The early withdrawal of students from healthcare education programmes, particularly nursing, is an international concern and, despite considerable investment, retention rates have remained stagnant. Here, a regional study of healthcare student retention is used as an example to frame the challenge of student attrition using a concept from policy development, wicked problem theory. This approach allows the consideration of student attrition as a complex problem derived from the interactions of many interrelated factors, avoiding the pitfalls of small-scale interventions and over-simplistic assumptions of cause and effect. A conceptual framework is proposed to provide an approach to developing actions to reduce recurrent investment in... (More)
The early withdrawal of students from healthcare education programmes, particularly nursing, is an international concern and, despite considerable investment, retention rates have remained stagnant. Here, a regional study of healthcare student retention is used as an example to frame the challenge of student attrition using a concept from policy development, wicked problem theory. This approach allows the consideration of student attrition as a complex problem derived from the interactions of many interrelated factors, avoiding the pitfalls of small-scale interventions and over-simplistic assumptions of cause and effect. A conceptual framework is proposed to provide an approach to developing actions to reduce recurrent investment in interventions that have previously proved ineffective at large scale. We discuss how improvements could be achieved through integrated stakeholder involvement and acceptance of the wicked nature of attrition as a complex and ongoing problem.
(Less)
- author
- Hamshire, Claire
; Jack, Kirsten
; Forsyth, Rachel
LU
; Langan, A. Mark
and Harris, W. Edwin
- publishing date
- 2019-07
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- midwifery, nurse education, retention, undergraduates, wicked problems, withdrawal
- categories
- Higher Education
- in
- Nursing Inquiry
- volume
- 26
- issue
- 3
- article number
- e12294
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:31056831
- scopus:85065340136
- ISSN
- 1320-7881
- DOI
- 10.1111/nin.12294
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Authors. Nursing Inquiry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- id
- b4a4798d-bd07-461c-8254-3b940cd455fb
- date added to LUP
- 2022-05-02 15:11:36
- date last changed
- 2024-04-18 07:20:37
@article{b4a4798d-bd07-461c-8254-3b940cd455fb,
abstract = {{<p>The early withdrawal of students from healthcare education programmes, particularly nursing, is an international concern and, despite considerable investment, retention rates have remained stagnant. Here, a regional study of healthcare student retention is used as an example to frame the challenge of student attrition using a concept from policy development, wicked problem theory. This approach allows the consideration of student attrition as a complex problem derived from the interactions of many interrelated factors, avoiding the pitfalls of small-scale interventions and over-simplistic assumptions of cause and effect. A conceptual framework is proposed to provide an approach to developing actions to reduce recurrent investment in interventions that have previously proved ineffective at large scale. We discuss how improvements could be achieved through integrated stakeholder involvement and acceptance of the wicked nature of attrition as a complex and ongoing problem.</p>}},
author = {{Hamshire, Claire and Jack, Kirsten and Forsyth, Rachel and Langan, A. Mark and Harris, W. Edwin}},
issn = {{1320-7881}},
keywords = {{midwifery; nurse education; retention; undergraduates; wicked problems; withdrawal}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Nursing Inquiry}},
title = {{The wicked problem of healthcare student attrition}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nin.12294}},
doi = {{10.1111/nin.12294}},
volume = {{26}},
year = {{2019}},
}