In a 1968 study Kramer investigated the dimensions of role socialization in novice nurses and reasons for the early abandonment of the profession by nearly 30% of new nurses. Kramer (1968) concluded that one of the principal causes of this high dropout rate was conflict between the idealized training in caring which was provided by nursing schools and the task-centered approach of hierarchically organized workplaces. Since that time, the transition from nursing student to staff nurse has been studied extensively in terms of "role conflict . . . between the professional values taught in nursing school and the bureaucratic values supported by the employing organization" and increased clinical training of various types has been seen as the principal means of alleviating transition difficulties (Itano, Warren & Ishida, 1987, p. 69).
Transition theory offers a framework in which the transition process can be studied. Meleis (1986) defines transitions as periods in which change takes place in an individual or an environment and which possess certain commonalities. The traits that all transitions have in common are: 1) disconnection from previous social connections and supports, 2) absence of familiar reference points (objects or persons), 3) the appearance of new needs and/or the inability to meet old needs in accustomed ways, and 4) incongruence between former sets of expectations and those that prevail in the new situation. This broad transition concept has several important applications in nursing. Schumacher and Meleis (1986) cite the extensive nursing literature on developmental and health-illness transitions as examples of its applications in the field. In terms of what they identify as "situational transitions", the "transition to staff nurse at the completion of an educational program" was identified as one of the major research topics in nursing (Schumacher & Meleis, 1986, p. 120).
Transition theory provides functiona...