Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between rural community leaders' knowledge of the role of the nurse practitioner and rural community leaders' acceptance of the nurse practitioner as part of the community health care system. King's (1981) conceptual framework for nursing provided the direction and structure for this descriptive correlational study. Fifteen subjects, who held a position of leadership within a rural northeast Mississippi county, participated in the study. Data were collected using the Modified Kviz Knowledge Questionnaire and the Modified Kviz Acceptance Questionnaire and were analyzed using the Pearson product moment correlation. The hypothesis for this research was: There will be a positive relationship between knowledge about the nurse practitioner role and acceptance of the nurse practitioner role by rural community leaders. Data analysis revealed a significant relationship between rural community leaders' knowledge and acceptance of the nurse practitioner role. The hypothesis was accepted. The findings indicate that rural community leaders generally have a broad knowledge base and generally accept a broadly defined role for the nurse practitioner. iv Recommendations for future research include replication of the study with a larger sample size, a different ranking of community leaders, a different data collection technique, and with parametric testing of the two instruments.

Degree

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Department

Graduate Nursing

Degree Date

8-1-1990

Publication Number

27919846

First Advisor

Dr. Mary Patricia Curtis

Second Advisor

Joyce Thornton

Document Type

Thesis

Included in

Nursing Commons

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