“Men in nursing” as viewed by male students in secondary schools

Abstract

Globally, the significant and increasing shortage of nurses is alarming. Male nurses have established their positions in hospitals and community health settings but their overall numbers remain suboptimal. Therefore, this study sought to explore and describe the views of secondary grade male students regarding men in the field of nursing in Egypt. The study was conducted at 2 secondary schools: Omar Makram and the Military Governmental Secondary Schools for boys in Damanhur, Egypt. A total number of 350 male students were recruited in the study and their perceptions and attitudes towards men in nursing were assessed using the Attitudes Towards Men in Nursing Scale (ATMINS), which was developed by Bartfay WJ et al., in 2010. Interestingly, it was found that there is a general positive perception toward men in nursing. Specifically, the most apparent positive attitudes were in the direction to "Mass media portrayal of the male nurse as being gay or effeminate in nature which discourages males to choose it as a career" followed by "Mass media portrayal of nursing to be more suited to women which also discourages males to choose it as a career". On the other hand, their negative perception and disagreement was toward "Encouragement male family members to pursue nursing as a challenging and rewarding career choice". Therefore, "Media description", "No specific job title for men" and "No role model" are the major factors that discouraged male students from choosing nursing as a future career. In contrast, "Gaining good income and travelling abroad" seemed to have potentially shifted their perception. Eligible students chose nursing as a prospective future career right after medicine, pharmacy and engineering. In conclusion, Male students in secondary grade seem to have a positive perception toward men in the nursing field but do not prefer it as a future career. Having said that, a considerable part of society reflects a limited attraction to the nursing profession even though they appreciate it. Future research is indeed warranted to investigate other key factors that may influence the overall male perception toward the profession of nursing.

The Thoughts of the Community About Taking Care from Male Nurses

“…(2018) 28 Abudari ark. (2016) 29 Alan & Uğur (2018) 30 *Bireylerin tutum ve düşünceleri ile ilgili maddeler Tablo 3'te açıklanmaktadır. Çalışmalarda katılımcıların verdikleri yanıtlara göre tablodaki maddelere yanıtı olumlu ise (+), olumsuz ise (-) olarak belirtildi.…”

“…28 Mısır'da ortaokul öğrencilerinin Mısır toplumundaki erkek hemşire algılarına yönelik olarak değerlendirildiği bir çalışmada, katılımcıların hemşireliğin Mısır toplumunda erkekler için uygun bir kariyer olmadığını düşündükleri (%60,3), Mısır toplumunda kadın hemşirelerin erkek hemşirelerden daha bakım verici ve besleyici özelliğe sahip olduğu (%54), kadınların doğası gereği daha şefkatli ve bakım verici olduğu, bu nedenle hemşirelik mesleği için kadınların daha uygun olduğunu (%83,4) düşündükleri saptanmıştır (Tablo 4). 29 Alan ve Uğur çalışmalarında, katılımcılar hemşirelik mesleğinin kadın mesleği olmadığını (%48,9), erkeklerin de hemşirelik yapabileceğini (%82,5), erkek hemşirelerin iyi bakım verebileceklerini (%72), erkek hemşirenin olmasının hemşirelik mesleğinin toplumdaki yerini değişti reme yeceğini, hemşirelik mesleğini geliştirebileceğini (%53,4) düşündüklerini belirtirken, çalışmamızın aksine erkek hemşireden bakım almak istemediğini (%47,8) ve rahatsız olabileceğini (%55,2), erkek hemşirelerin sadece erkek hastalara bakım vermesi gerektiğini (%55,2) belirtenlerin de çoğunlukta olduğu saptanmıştır (Tablo 3, Tablo 4). 30 Alan ve Uğur, çalışmamız ile benzer olarak, erkek hemşirelerin hemşirelik mesleğini daha da güçlendireceğini düşünenlerin de çoğunlukta olduğunu (%55,2), çalışmada erkek hemşirelerin ayrım yapmaksızın her serviste çalışmalarının gerektiği (%71,3) görüşünü de bildirmişlerdir (Tablo 3, Tablo 4).…”

Intention of pursuing nursing as a career and its associated factors among male students in the schools of Banepa Municipality, Nepal

“…4,13,17 Despite the positive perception of nursing, only a tenth (N=21, 12%) of the school students in the present study intended to pursue nursing as a career. Many studies conducted in Egypt 8 , Saudi Arabia 19 , Malaysia 4 , South Nigeria 17, and South Africa 16 were 4.4%, 5.2%, 8.3%, 25%, and 43% of the male participants reported an intention in pursuing nursing as a career respectively. Florence Nightingale's perception and feminization of nursing into a female-only profession have resulted in fewer men pursuing nursing as a career.…”

“…4 An effective strategy to eliminate shortage is to recruit males in the profession. [5][6][7][8] Men are not barred from entering nursing however face various obstacles in the predominantly female field. 9 In Nepal, Tribhuvan University trained almost 80 male nurses in past but was discontinued shortly.…”

Development and validation of a scale to measure attitude of people toward men in nursing profession

“…[ 3 4 ] However, there are limited studies conducted to assess society's attitude towards men in nursing as well as the perception of health-care professionals, nursing students, and students from different fields on this trend. [ 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ] Furthermore, there is a lack of valid and reliable objective scales to assess the attitude of people toward men in nursing; we could find only single 6-item scales developed for this purpose, which has limited scope to measure all the dimensions of this phenomenon. [ 13 ]…”