Motives for choosing the nursing profession among males

Joint Event on 45^th World Congress on Nursing Care & 8^th European Breast Congress

December 11-13, 2017 | Rome, Italy

Keren Grinberg, Meital Amzaleg, Abu Much Hazem, Abu Much Raid and Wated Adham

Ruppin Academic Center, Israel

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Res Pract

Abstract :

Background: Nursing is considered as a feminine profession and men still constitute a small minority of this population. This lack in men raises the question, which factors influencing male students to choose in nursing studies. Aim: The study has two main goals: (1) to examine the main causes of male choice in nursing, (2) to recognize the factors that related to negative stereotypes and attitudes regarding the choice of men in nursing as a career. Methods: The study included 167 nursing students who completed a questionnaire built for the study (116 women, 51 men). The questionnaire included 40 questions that examined perceptions and gender attitudes towards the nursing profession and sociodemographic data. Results: There were many differences between men and women in the factors that influencing choosing the profession. Men chose the profession more because of external factors such as, salary, stability in the work place and promotion opportunities. Women also chose nursing because an external factors but more because of an internal factors, such as pleasure and the desire to do something significant in their lives and help others. Conclusions: There are differences between men and women in the motives for choosing a nursing profession. To encourage men to choose in nursing, it is important to emphasize the external factors such as salary, job stability, and promotion opportunities at the workplace. It is also worth to raise the image of male nursing in the media. With the changes taking place in the healthcare system, nursing education programs are attracting fewer students and active recruitment of young men may be a means of addressing nursing shortages.

Biography :

Keren Grinberg is a Lecturer in the Department of Nursing, Ruppin Academic Center, Israel. Her expertise is in the follow research domains: Children's Health/ Inequality between subgroups consumption of health services / health promotion, Pain Syndromes in women and women's health, Palliative care, Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) of pain. In addition, she has experience in the study of nursing education.