Hammond, Christine R.
Abstract:
Attrition rates from Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) programs nationally arereported to be too high (Harris, Rosenberg, & O’Rourke, 2013; Merkley, 2016; Newton& Moore, 2009). Nursing program administrators seek to identify and admit studentswho have the highest likelihood of success. Yet, traditional admission criteria forcompetitive BSN programs have not predicted student success and completion.Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly (2007) defined grit as “persistence and passiontowards long-term goals" (p. 1087). Trait grit has been studied in various academicsettings and has helped predict success in those programs. This study investigated therelationship between nursing students' total grit scores, obtained using the 12-item GritScale, and exam averages in each of the three first semester nursing courses at aMidwestern college of nursing. Nursing students must score a 75% or higher examaverage in any course to pass the course and progress in the program. If they score lowerthan 75% in one nursing course, they are delayed by a full academic year; if they scorelower in two nursing courses, they are dismissed from the nursing program. Aquantitative correlational design using archival data was selected for the research design.A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was calculated to index the strengthand direction of the relationship between the grit score and an average of exam scores ineach course and the average for all three courses. The statistical analyses resultsindicated that students' total grit scores and the average of all exam scores in Foundationsof Nursing Practice, Nursing Health Assessment, and Pathophysiology are not related toone another. This study is the first to study nursing student academic performance andgrit directly. Although no relationship was found, this study contributes to the body of research related to grit and student performance in health sciences, and includesrecommendations for further research.