A SOCIOLOGICAL-ANALYSIS OF THE EXTENT AND INFLUENCE OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIALIZATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NURSING IDENTITY AMONG NURSING-STUDENTS AT 2 UNIVERSITIES IN BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

Professions make extraordinary demands on its practitioners. Professio nals are required to master substantive theory and technical skills. T hey also develop their own unique subcultures, demanding specific norm ative standards from their members, which are symbolized by profession al ethical codes. In the health professions, ethical codes include str ong altruistic elements. Professional normative standards are learnt o n a formal level (for example, at a university) and informal level (du ring the process of professional socialization and contact with the pe er group, as well as informal sanctions). The transformation process o f a novice to a professional is essentially an acculturation process d uring which the values, norms and symbols of the profession are intern alized. Acculturation can be so strong that it may cause personality t ransformation, which the French refer to as 'deformation professionell e', usually displayed by stereotypes, which are almost always exemplif ied by members of professions as ideal professionals, those who have i nternalized the profession's culture completely. The question is, what is the extent of normative standards and professional characteristics that nursing students are exposed to during professional socializatio n, and to what extent are these standards and characteristics internal ized so that a nursing 'deformation professionelle' develops? A reliab le Likert-type measurement scale was developed to measure this phenome non. One of the most important findings of this study was that student s at both universities are highly professionally socialized.