The purpose of this research was to develop a self-evaluation scale on preceptor role performance for new graduate nurses. This research was comprised of four phases：（a）Item of scale were made based on the result of a qualitative and inductive research, （b）Content validity and refinement of the scale were estimated through a panel of experts and a pilot study, （c）Item analysis and selection were done through a survey, and （d）Reliability and validity of the scale were tested. Survey forms were mailed to 2706 preceptors of 188 randomly sampled hospitals all over Japan. In all, 1582（58.5%） scales were returned, and 1422 valid answers were analyzed. Based on items analysis, 35 items were selected. A factor analysis of these 35 items properly extracted seven factors that were reflective of the seven subscales. Chronbach's alpha of the scale was .92 and that's of the seven subscales ranged from .69 to .81. The results indicate that this scale had good construct validity and high internal consistency reliability. The final scale with seven subscales contained 35 items is four-point Likert scale. The scale was named the Self-evaluation Scale of Preceptor Role Performance for New Graduate Nurses.

The purpose of this study is to describe how the professional identities of nursing students today are formed by their life experiences while in nursing school. Data were collected from 10 nursing students and analyzed using life-story research method.

Regardless of their motive for entering nursing school, students overwhelmingly feel that their destiny is to become a nurse and also that it will be difficult for them to ever become any other professionals. Therefore, during the process of forming their professional identities, the nursing students’ main goal is to visualize themselves as professional nurses in order to determine whether nursing is a suitable career for themselves and they can fulfill the duties of a nurse. The process of forming a professional identities consists of three phases : （1）developing on awareness that nursing is one’s work, （2）continuing to feel conflicted as to whether nursing should be one’s work, and （3）ceasing to feel conflicted as to whether nursing should be one’s work.

This study suggests that it is important that teachers and nurses support students during the period of clinical training. The support of teachers and nurses is necessary to enable students to experience nursing and make sense out of these experiences to form their professional identities. Support is also necessary for students who decide to become a nurse without recognizing that nursing will be their job.

The purpose of this study was to describe clinical nurses’ perception of being the “good nurse” by exploring the “virtue of nursing ethics”. The “good nurse” is an ideal ethical model in nursing practice and in nursing education.

Data were obtained by a semi-structured interview administered to 20 nurses who had various clinical experiences and educational backgrounds. The research question was to explore the consisting elements of the “good nurse” recognized by nurses. The data was analyzed qualitatively with the phenomenological approach by van Kaam. This report focused on 11 young nurses among other interviewees.

The “good nurse” has three natures as follow；１） a heart wishing for patient’s comfort, ２） a character with good humanity and self-control as professional, ３） a good practice with patient orientation, efficient clinical nursing ability, and with good team-work. In addition, the “good nurse” is susceptible to the elements which foster good nurses and the elements which inhibit from good practices to the patients. The “good nurse” has some abilities such as to reflect on patients’ positive reactions, to review undesirable practices, to observe and learn from good practices by other nurses. On the other hand, the elements which inhibit from good practice were to humor coworkers easily and to slacken responsibilities and so on. The result of this study gives demonstrating evidences for guideline of nursing ethics education and making education strategies.

This study was aimed to determine the factors related to the teaching efficacy of clinical nursing instructors. A total of three hundred and fifty one instructors cooperated in this study. They were asked on a questionnaire about their identities as a nurse, self-education abilities, and attributes in addition to self-evaluating their teaching efficacies on ‘Self-efficacy Inventory toward Nursing Practice Teaching Inventory’.Weak but significant correlations were found between the teaching efficacy of the instructors and the following factors：years of instruction （r =.342）, age （r =.308） and years of clinical experience （r =.291）.The efficacy was significantly greater in the instructors of higher age （p＜.001）, longer years of clinical experience （p＜.001） and longer years of instruction （p＜.001）, as well as in those who had attended seminars for clinical instructors （p＜.005）. Higher correlations with the efficacy were also found in the instructors who scored higher marks on an item for ‘identity as a nurse’ （r =.428, p＜.001） and in those who reported a greater self-education ability （r =.406, p＜.001）. These results indicate that it is strongly recommended not only to improve a nursing system in such a way that nurses can develop a strong identity as a nurse, but also to provide a working environment in which instructors mature as an instructor, constantly educating themselves.