Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between membership in the New York State Nurses Association , the Political Involvement and Political Activity of nurses, and nurses' concern with legislative issues relevant to nursing. ;The randomly selected sample was composed of 341 members and 304 non-members of NYSNA. Political Involvement was measured by a scale developed by Campbell, Converse, Miller and Stokes. Political Activity was measured by a scale developed by the researcher based on Milbrath's hierarchy of political activity. The legislative issues questionnaire was based on NYSNA's legislative concerns. The issues questionnaire had poor reliability. ;A research question and five hypotheses were statistically examined by correlation, ANOVA, t-test, or multiple regression analysis. ;The research question asked: To what extent does membership in NYSNA explain variance in nurses' mean political involvement and political activity scores, simultaneously controlling for concern with legislative issues relevant to nursing level of education, family income and years of work experience. Regression analysis showed membership alone accounted for less than one percent of the variance. Other factors such as age, education, and work experience accounted for more variance. ;Hypothesis 1, stating that membership in NYSNA is positively correlated with Political Involvement and Political Activity was conditionally accepted. Hypothesis 2, stating that members of NYSNA are more concerned with nursing issues than non-members was discussed with a caveat because of the low reliability of the questionnaire. Hypothesis 3, stating educational level was positively correlated with Political Involvement and Political Activity was accepted. Hypothesis 4, stating that years of work experience was positively correlated with Political Involvement and Political Activity was conditionally accepted. Hypothesis 5, stating that family income was positively correlated with Political Involvement and Political Activity was not accepted. ;An interesting result was the high number of nurses who were politically active. Over 90 percent were registered voters. The results of the Issues Questionnaire, when viewed as a survey, showed very similar responses between members and non-members of the NYSNA