Nursing Students' Self-interest in Selecting Nursing as a Career and its Association with Absenteeism; A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Absenteeism among nursing students is a major concern in university education. This study aimed to determine nursing students’ self-interest in selecting nursing as their career, its associated factors, and reasons for absenteeism from academic activities, examinations and clinical training. 
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among nursing undergraduates of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. A self-administered questionnaire was administered to 232 undergraduates in all four academic years and considered the number of days absent in the previous semester. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and using Pearson’s chi-square tests. 
Results: Mean±SD age of the sample was 21.77±0.93 years and the majority were females (72.4%, n=168). The majority reported (68.1%, n=158) selecting nursing as per their self-interest. Only 3.4% (n=8) were absent 0 days from lectures or clinical training, and 24.6% (n=57) were absent 0 days from practical sessions.  Self-interest in selecting nursing had statistically significant associations with absenteeism from lectures (p<0.05), practical sessions (p<0.001) and clinical training (p<0.01) whereas no association was found with gender and parental education (p>0.05). Illnesses (50%), tiredness (35.3%) and exam/study workload (34.5%) were the main reasons for student absenteeism from academic activities whereas illnesses (50.9%), tiredness (46.1%) and lack of support from the clinical staff (18.1%) were the main reasons for the absence from clinical training. 
Conclusions: A small proportion of students had poor self-interest in selecting nursing which was associated with absenteeism from academic activities and clinical training. Attention to students’ clinical attendance is essential as nurses are the key personnel in patient care.