School Counselors' Perceptions of Necessary Attributes of Middle and High School Students Interested in a Career in Nursing.

AIM: The focus of this study was to examine which attributes school counselors perceive as necessary for middle and high school students interested in a career in nursing.

BACKGROUND: School counselors play a pivotal role in secondary students' career development but were found to have limited knowledge about the need for increased academic rigor in nursing.

METHOD: A national sample of 204 school counselors responded to a web-based survey that examined perceptions of necessary attributes of prospective nursing students.

RESULTS: This is the first national study to identify school counselors' perceived attributes of prospective nursing students. Results included trustworthiness and caring; academic attributes ranked lower.

CONCLUSION: School counselors in this study perceived nursing as a caring profession but not necessarily an academic one. Early intervention in middle school may alter preconceived images of nursing as exclusively female and caring but also as a profession that requires much academic preparation.