Date of Conferral

1-1-2011

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Nathan Long

Abstract

Despite decades of important contributions by male nurses, nursing is still viewed as a feminine profession. Moreover, male nursing students continue to experience gender bias and gender-based educational barriers within schools of nursing. This has led to failure and drop-out rates much higher than those experienced by their female counterparts. The purposes of this quantitative survey study were to (a) explore the relationship between perceived gender bias, gender-based educational barriers within nursing education, and resiliency in recent male nursing graduates; and (b) to identify those gender-based barriers that were considered to be most prevalent and most important. A view of gender from a social constructivist approach framed the study. Two previously validated data collection tools, the Inventory of Male Friendliness in Nursing Programs-Short(c) (IMFNPS(c)) and the Brief Resilience Scale(c) (BRS(c)) were used to gather data from recent male nursing graduates (N = 97). The results demonstrated no significant correlation (Spearman rho = 0.1025, p = 0.3178), between mean scores on the IMFNPS and the BRS; however, overall mean resilience scores were high (M = 3.90, SD = 0.62). The gender-based educational barriers identified as being most prevalent and most important included (a) curriculum did not include a discussion of the historical contributions of male nurses, (b) clinical experiences were limited during the obstetrical rotation; and (c) male students feared that they would be accused of sexual inappropriateness when providing nursing care for female patients. Positive social change can occur for male nursing students if the most prevalent gender-based barriers are minimized or eliminated, men are provided with the appropriate skills to care for female patients, and resilience education is included within all nursing curricula.

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