Determination of Nursing Students' SelfLeadership and Lifelong Learning Tendencies and Affecting Factors

Objective: In this study, it was aimed to determine the leadership levels and lifelong learning tendencies and influencing factors of nursing students. Methods: This research was carried out in a descriptive design. The research was conducted with 314 students who were studying in the nursing department of a state university, voluntarily to participate in the research, and actively enrolled in the course at the time the research was conducted. Data were collected through "Descriptive Characteristics Form," "Revised Self-Leadership Scale," and "Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale." The data of the research were collected online from May 2022 to July 2022. When the data are normally distributed, Independent Sample t test, One Way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient tests were used; in cases where it was not normally distributed, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskall Wallis H, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient tests were used. Results: The total mean score of the students' revised self-leadership scale is 113.58 +/- 17.45; the mean score for the behavior-focused strategies sub-dimension was 37.06 +/- 6.17, 19.78 +/- 3.78 for the natural reward strategies sub-dimension, and 56.73 +/- 8.99 for the constructive thought model strategies sub-dimension. The mean score of the lifelong learning tendencies scale is 72.19 +/- 9.48; the mean score for the willingness to learn sub-dimension was 46.34 +/- 6.30, and for the openness to development sub-dimension 25.84 +/- 3.56. It was determined that the fathers were high school and primary school graduates. No significant difference was found in terms of leadership and lifelong learning tendencies scores of the students according to age, gender, class, graduated high school, marital status, employment status, education status of parents (P >.05). The self-leadership levels and lifelong learning tendencies of the students who defined themselves as leaders were found to be significantly higher than those who did not (P <.001). It was determined that there was a moderately significant positive relationship between students' self-leadership levels and lifelong learning tendencies (P <.001). Conclusion: As a result, it was determined that the students' self-identification as a leader regardless of some descriptive characteristics increased both their self-leadership level and their lifelong learning tendencies. In addition, it has been determined that the development of students' self-leadership characteristics will contribute to the development of lifelong learning tendencies.