Nursing Students' Perception and Associated Factors Towards the Nursing Profession at Selected Health Science Colleges in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Cross-sectional study.

Background: Understanding nursing students' perceptions of their profession is crucial issue for improving educational programs, enhancing support systems, and ultimately preparing competent and compassionate health care professionals. Objective : This study aimed to assess nursing students' perceptions and the associated factors of the nursing profession at selected health science colleges in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from Feb 19- Mar 19, 2024, among nursing students at four health science colleges. Data was collected by using structured interview questionnaires after preparation and validated by using expert review from randomly selected undergraduate Nursing students enrolled in the four health science colleges of Addis Ababa. And organized students' socio-demographic characteristics, perceptions towards nursing, and associated factors and presented Descriptive statistics, Bivariate and multiple logistic regression analysis were computed using SPSS version 26. Results: A total of 267 nursing students participated in this study yielding a 100% response rate. The majority (57.3%) of the students had a positive perception of the nursing profession. Factors significantly associated with positive perception included female gender, higher family income, and having a close family member who is a nurse. Factors associated with negative perception included poor clinical supervision and inadequate resources in clinical settings. From this, 82% (n=219) of the study participants were female nurses. Being female (AOR = 5.77; 95% CI: 2.47 – 13.44), competitive salary like other professions (AOR = 3.48; 95% CI: 1.81 – 6.66), having reasons for enrolling in the nursing profession (AOR= 4.39; 95% CI:2.37– 8.13) were significantly associated with the perception of nurses towards their profession. Conclusion: Nursing students generally had a positive perception of the nursing profession. However, factors related to the clinical learning environment heavy workload, lack of professional autonomy, and poor remuneration was associated with a negative perception. Addressing these factors through improved clinical placements, and awareness creation towards the nursing profession should be implemented before and after students join the nursing school.