Factors Restraining Choice of Nursing as a Career among Male SSSIII Students in Enugu Urban

Abstract

The various institutions offering nursing programmes have continued to witness very low male enrollment while female enrollment continue to increase. This situation created the problem of sex stereotype, gender bias and lack of professional autonomy which could have been addressed if men were well represented in nursing profession. This work therefore was aimed at determining the factors restraining choice of nursing as a career among male SSSIII students in Enugu Urban. The specific objectives of the study were to ascertain the personal, social/environmental, economic, job-related, career-related factors as well as determine which of the group of factors has the most restraining influence in choosing nursing as a career among male SSSIII students. A cross-sectional survey design was used for the study which was carried out in 9 secondary schools in Enugu Urban. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the schools. No sampling technique was used to select the students as all the SSSIII students from the selected schools were involved in the study. A total population of 638 male SSSIII students from nine (9) randomly selected secondary schools in Enugu Urban were used for the study. A self-developed questionnaire in 4 point modified Likert type scale with reliability of 0.90 was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Results were presented in tables as percentages, means, and standard deviations. Findings revealed that respondents identified “I don’t like nursing as a career” (mean 2.8; SD=1.11), “I cannot think of myself being a nurse” (mean 2.7; SD=1.05) and “Nursing will lower my ego and integrity” (mean 2.5; SD=1.03) as personal factors that restrain males from choosing nursing as a career. Findings also showed social and environmental factors that prevent males from choosing nursing as a career as “People expect nurses to be women (mean 3.1; SD=0.97), “Nursing has traditionally been viewed as a female profession” (mean 3.1; SD=0.99) and “Nurses are seen as doctors’ servants (mean 2.9; SD=0.99). “Wanting to be rich/make money (mean 3.0; SD=0.9), “Nursing being noble but not lucrative” (mean 2.7; SD=0.99) and “Nursing not being regarded as one of the highly paid jobs” (mean 2.7; SD=0.99) were also established as economic factors that discourage males from choosing nursing as a career. Findings also indicated job-related factors that hinder males from choosing nursing as a career to include “Nurses work during the weekend” (mean 3.1; SD=0.93), “Nursing jobs extend into the night” (mean 3.1; SD=0.91) and “Most nurses work in the hospital” (mean 3.1; SD=0.94). From the findings, the career-related factors that restrain males from choosing nursing as a career are “I did career research on my own” (mean 2.7; SD=0.94) and “I would consider a career held traditionally by males” (mean 2.5; SD=1.01). Based on the findings, the job-related group of factors (with group mean 2.8 and SD=0.61) had the most restraining influence on male SSSIII students in choosing nursing as a career in Enugu urban. Based on the findings of the present study, the following conclusions were made: That secondary school students involved in this study generally identified the factors that restrained males from choosing nursing as a career. That the issue of choosing or not choosing nursing as a career do not solely depend on one single factor; rather it involves the combination and interaction of all the factors (i.e. personal, social/environmental, economic, job related and career influential factors) which hinges more on the individual decision to do or not to do something. It is therefore recommended that the media should present nursing as a gender neutral profession via strategies such as pictorial representation of males as nurses, stories of successful males in nursing and production of home videos where males play the role of nurses. Practicing male nurses should engage in career promotion programmes in secondary schools. Career counselors in secondary schools should clearly explain the career opportunities for males entering nursing.