Psychology Career Interest: A Comparison of Nursing and Psychology

This essay provides a comparative analysis of two distinct yet related career paths: occupational psychology and nursing. It begins by defining occupational psychology as the application of psychological knowledge to organizational issues, contrasting it with nursing's focus on direct healthcare and patient care. The essay highlights the salary differences, essential skills required for both professions, and the role of an occupational psychologist in improving workplace ergonomics and employee well-being. It then introduces Holland's RIASEC theory to explain career choices based on personality types, aligning interests with suitable job environments. The author concludes by expressing a personal inclination towards mental health nursing, citing strong communication skills, a desire to care for others, and the importance of psychological knowledge in understanding and improving patient well-being. The essay emphasizes the interrelatedness of psychology and nursing in providing holistic care. Desklib provides a platform for students to access past papers and solved assignments.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1PSYCHOLOGY
CAREER INTEREST
This paper will compare and contrast between two careers, one from the field of psychology and
another from the field of nursing.
Occupational psychologists refers to the psychologists that apply psychological
knowledge and philosophical learnings to organizational issues at workplace like culture and
modification. This might be useful in improving the job satisfaction among the employees and
increase the overall growth of the organization1.
On the other hand the profession of nursing mainly focuses on health care sector,
working in frontline with the doctors to address the increasing demand of health care in today’s
world. It focuses on the care of the individual, communities and the families to attain the
optimum quality of health2.
The average salary of a U.S registered nurse is about $67,930 and can be broken down in
to $1,306 per week and a monthly salary of $5,660.The wage levels may differ depending upon
the experience, levels of training, location and industry. The median annual salary of an
occupational psychologists are $81,910. Again the remuneration depends upon the experience
and the organization.
1 Schilling, Richard Selwyn Francis, ed. Occupational health practice. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2013.
2 Paley, John. "Cognition and the compassion deficit: the social psychology of helping behavior in
nursing." Nursing Philosophy 15.4 (2014): 274-287.

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The essential skills that are required in nursing are the compassion, communication,
ethics, critical thinking, stamina and adaptability3. The registered nurses should have effective
communication skills to communicate with the peers, patients and patient’s family. The skills of
an occupational psychologist on the other hand are required to have an excellent communication
and the interpersonal skills, for convincing the clients about the abilities, gain information by
inspiring their trust. The profession generally covers a wide area such as counselling and
personal development, designing work environments, organizational change and development,
human –machine interaction, career development. Being an occupational psychologist, one had
to assess the functionality and the usability of a system, like workstations, investigate the
problems that can arise accidents and make recommendations4. An occupational psychologist can
review the ergonomic design of the workplace by assessing the noise levels, lighting and can
recommend for suitable changes. They can be responsible for implementing new strategies for
employee selection or can find way outs for assessing the mindset of the employees for
decreasing the employee turnover.
Value of the internet profiler
The internet profiler helps to measure the realistic, investigative, social, enterprising,
conventional and artistic occupational interest. The internet profilers are excellent tools that
helps the consumers to explore the type of activities and occupation. Clients gets the chance to
identify and learn about a large number options for careers.
3 de Vries, Jan MA, and Fiona Timmins. "Psychology teaching in nursing education: A review of and reflection on
approaches, issues, and contemporary practice." Nurse education in practice 12.6 (2012): 316-321.
4 Schilling, Richard Selwyn Francis, ed. Occupational health practice. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2013.

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Holland’s theory matching interest to careers
According to John Holland’s theory of Career choice (RIASEC), people prefer jobs,
where they can be comfortable and search for the environment that will let them use their skills
and abilities, express their values and attitudes. According to the theory, most of the people falls
in to six personality types- Realistic, Investigative, Social, Artistic, conventional and
Enterprising5. People who are realistic likes to work with hands, building or fixing things,
operating tools and machines. They are best suited as builders, armed service personnel,
electrician, park ranger or sportsperson. Similarly people who are investigative are best suited in
the field of science, medical, research, doctors. People who are more artistic and use music or
drama, or create or design things are more likely to become an artist, photographer, designer.
Hence it can be seen that Holland’s theory of career assessment can be an important medium to
understand the choice of interest of an individual in terms of interest and employment.
My choice of profession
As per the analysis made above I believe that I can take up the profession as psychiatric
or a mental health nurse. As I believe that in my course of study I have gathered enough
communication skills that are required for communicating with the patients of the doctors. Since
childhood I have an inclination towards the profession of nursing as I have always looked
forward towards devoting my life to the care of people. The primary element of nursing is care,
which is also necessary in the other career that I have mentioned before. Psychology and nursing
are interrelated, as psychology is the scientific studies of mental processes and different
5 Swanson, Jane L., and Nadya A. Fouad. Career theory and practice: Learning through case studies. Sage
publications, 2014.

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behaviors. A mental health nurse seeks to understand the perception of people having mental
health disorders6. A sharp and a critical mind is required for excelling in the nursing field, which
I believe have developed in my academic career. My knowledge of psychology would help me to
predict behavior of people and also change behaviors to enhance the wellbeing and the quality of
life. Furthermore, nurses can use psychological researches for enhancing their foundation in the
field of psychology, biology and sociology.
6 Barker, Sue. Psychology for Nursing and Healthcare Professionals: Developing Compassionate Care. Sage, 2016.

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References
Barker, Sue. Psychology for Nursing and Healthcare Professionals: Developing Compassionate
Care. Sage, 2016.
de Vries, Jan MA, and Fiona Timmins. "Psychology teaching in nursing education: A review of
and reflection on approaches, issues, and contemporary practice." Nurse education in
practice 12.6 (2012): 316-321.
Paley, John. "Cognition and the compassion deficit: the social psychology of helping behavior in
nursing." Nursing Philosophy 15.4 (2014): 274-287.
Schilling, Richard Selwyn Francis, ed. Occupational health practice. Butterworth-Heinemann,
2013.
Swanson, Jane L., and Nadya A. Fouad. Career theory and practice: Learning through case
studies. Sage publications, 2014.