The socialization process of master's-level nurse practitioner students.

A national survey of final semester, graduate-level adult nurse practitioner students (n = 94) was undertaken to determine if they were being socialized into the role of a master's-prepared nurse practitioner and to identify factors which seemed to influence this socialization process. The results revealed that no factors relating to the students' backgrounds and almost none of those relating to their present educational experience were significantly influential on the students' expectations of nurse practitioner role behaviors. The educational factor, "opportunity to practice role behaviors," statistically increased (p less than .01) the expectations for selected master's role behaviors, suggesting that students need the opportunity to practice role behaviors to enhance the socialization process. The students also placed significantly greater importance (p less than .01) on technical instead of master's role behaviors. This study demonstrates that graduate students may not be adequately socialized into the role of a master's-prepared nurse practitioner.