1Senior Instructor, Ziauddin University, College of Nursing, Karachi, Pakistan
2Assistant Professor, Ziauddin University, College of Nursing, Karachi, Pakistan
Online published on 30 November, 2016.
Nursing is health profession which is still having widest numerical disparity between male and female practitioners. If the nursing workforce has to reflect the characteristics of the general population, the academia must recruit and retain students of both sexes. After decades of efforts, minimal progress has been made to justify males in a predominantly female profession. There are many challenges faced by male nursing students while working in female dominant profession. No any studies have been done in Pakistan highlighting the learning experiences of male nursing students. This study focuses on the experiences of male nursing students in nursing profession. The purpose of this study is to identify the experiences of male nursing students in nursing profession.
Qualitative Phenomenological approach is utilized. Male nursing students of third and fourth years of baccalaureate four year nursing degree program were recruited through convenient sampling. Two focused group interviews were conducted by using semi structured questionnaire. Data was collected until the data saturation occurred.
Content analysis revealed three major themes: The definition of nursing (caring, unique and having broad horizon), the experiences (negative experiences, positive hopes and the impact on male nursing student's personality) and future planning of male nursing students.
These findings have major implications for all male nurses, nursing students, nursing management, nursing education, and people working for the curriculum development and for future research as well.
Nursing education, gender identity, male nursing students, experiences, caring, positive hopes
