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.