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Aims and objectives To examine the relationships among nursing students’ perceived nursing image, caring behaviours and gender‐friendliness barriers to determine whether gender‐friendliness barriers affect nursing image and caring behaviour among male nursing students. Background Because caring is typically seen as a feminine trait, male nurses face gender‐role strains in the current nursing environment. Gender‐friendliness barriers may have an impact on the vital relationship between professional nursing image and caring behaviour. Design This study used a quantitative and cross‐sectional research design. Methods Participants were 141 male students who had obtained at least 1 month of clinical practice experience. We collected data using three instruments: The Caring Assessment Report Evaluation Q‐sort (CARE‐Q), Gender‐Friendliness Barriers in Nursing Programs (GFB‐NP), and Nursing Image—as a Profession Questionnaire (NIPQ). Data were collected from August 2016–July 2017. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM) with bootstrapping was used to test the hypothesis model. Results The full model results indicated a direct positive and significant path from professional nursing image to caring behaviour (β = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.32 to 0.61, t = 6.19, p < 0.001). Gender‐friendliness barriers had a direct and significant negative relationship between professional nursing image (β = −0.31, 95% CI = −0.49 to −0.12, t = 3.17, p < 0.01) and caring behaviour (β = −0.18, 95% CI = −0.35 to −0.02, t = 2.18, p < 0.05). In addition, the variable of student‐perceived barriers to gender‐friendliness was indirectly and significantly negatively related to caring behaviour (β = −0.15, 95% CI = −0.27 to −0.05, t = 2.57, p < 0.05) through professional nursing image. Conclusion Male nursing students with a higher nursing image engage in greater caring behaviour. Gender‐friendliness barriers, however, decrease students’ nursing image and caring behaviour. Relevance to clinical practice As applied to nursing education, the goal should be to improve male nursing students’ caring behaviours and professional nursing image and decrease gender‐friendliness barriers.

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