A Historical Trends of Doctoral Nursing Education in Korea / 한국간호교육학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to identify historical backdrop leading to the introduction of the doctorate degree of nursing in Korea, and to explore trends of doctoral nursing education program. METHODS: The research design was a descriptive study adopting a historical approach. Documentation data were collected through web sites and mail survey. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 professors who were involved in the introduction of the doctorate degree of nursing. The outcomes of doctoral nursing education program were evaluated with a total of 1,153 dissertations' titles published from 1982 to 2007. RESULTS: First introduced in Korea in 1978, doctoral nursing education program had steadily increased totaling 21 doctoral program in 2007. This resulted in a rapid increase in the number of doctoral students, but the number of faculty and the quality were not as satisfactory as expected. Many doctoral program had the missions or goals that fostered nursing scholars, theorists, and researchers, a trend that seems set to continue. The majority of dissertations utilized the experimental design (39.9%), others were qualitative design (21.6%), and survey design (19.0%). CONCLUSION: Doctoral education that is the hallmark of nursing scholarship is further elaborated in terms of academic tradition of nursing school in Korea.