Male Students in Women's Health: Perceptions of the Clinical Experience J. Creina Twomey, PhD©, RN & Robert J. Meadus, PhD, RN Memorial University of Newfoundland School of Nursing St. John’s, NL, Canada

Outline Background Purpose Methodology Findings Comments Strategies for Teaching Men Students Implications

Background Men remain a minority within Nsg. 5.6% of nurses in Canada are men (CNA, 2006). The goal is to produce a Nsg workforce that reflects the diversity of the population. Possible solution to the Nsg shortage. Men are an untapped resource.

Purpose To examine the Nsg education experience of men. To gain knowledge of the reasons why men choose Nsg as a career. To examine the challenges men encounter in Nsg programs.

Methodology Phenomenology – Focus Groups Descriptions of things as one experiences them (Hammond, Howarth, & Keat, 1991). Methodological approach - the essence of seeking an understanding of the interrelationship of the person & their world. Appropriate for exploring the experience of being a male in a female-concentrated educ program. Focus Groups Giorgi’s (1985) approach to data analysis.

Data Collection Questions Describe your exp of being a student nurse? What motivated you to enter nursing? Describe how your family/friends/peers feel about your career choice? What are the challenges within the nursing program? What would make it better? (Probes: supports & recommendations for change)

Data Collection/Focus Groups 27 Participants Group A - 4 students (Mainly FT) Group B - 9 students (All yrs FT & Reg) Group C - 5 students (Year 2) Group D - 5 students (FT program) Group E - 4 students (Year 2 & 3) Recommended when undertaking a qual study because of the richness of the data generated. Advocated as the "sole basis" for data collection when undertaking a phenomenological inquiry because it leads to multivocality of the group situation. Group interviews provide participants an opportunity to validate their experience with other men students. They may feel more comfortable about sharing their thoughts and feelings without fear of disapproval. Five focus groups with 27 participants.

Data Analysis Transcription of tape-recorded focus group interviews & interview notes. Giorgi's (1985) guidelines for data analysis. Read the transcripts to obtain a sense of the whole; Reread the transcripts, analyzing the common elements; Transform the language into a conceptual perspective of the experience, relative to the phenomenon of interest; Combine & synthesize these meaning units/themes into a final general description which reflects the lived experience of the participants.

Themes Choosing Nursing Becoming A Nurse Visible/Invisible Caring within the Nsg role Gender-Based Stereotyping

Comments re Women’s Health “In OBS you have to do assessments and stuff. I had to bring a female nurse with me… You do get the feeling right of the bat, I am different.” “And I remember just going the whole maternity rotation and …..the staff always say to you, ‘You’re never really see a guy working in this area. It’s kind of like its own speciality.”

Comments re Women’s Health “In our maternity clinical 1 group went to the OR, 1 went to Diagnostic Imaging & the other went to Women’s Health. So the professor decided from past experience that they had negative feedback from guys going to Women’s Health b/c the women didn’t feel comfortable having a male in the room, so the professor assigned all the guys to the OR.” It was in our maternity class where we’re able to have a clinical day, the one outside of clinical experience. There was one group that went to the OR, one went to Diagnostic Imaging and the other went to Women’s Health. So the professor decided from past experience that they had negative feedback from guys going to Women’s Health because those women didn’t feel comfortable having a male in the room, so the professor assigned all the guys to the OR and all females to the women’s health and the female students really didn’t like that. And we still hear that to this day about that experience.

Comments re Women’s Health “Pts in OBS don’t have a choice with the docs but with us, they do. I don’t know why that is. I mean like if a male doc came in, they would say well, this is your doc that’s it, but if I came in, in some situations they may be uncomfortable with me, and they’ll say, okay, “can I have a female nurse please?” But you don’t hear many people say, “can I have a female doc?”

Comments re Women’s Health “In OBS I really feel like "a fish out of water.“ I know it’s a vital part of nsg educ it’s just ah [pause] where I guess we’re not going through the same things we can’t relate quite as easily as females, but for the most part I have had a good experience there. My profs have been very good, & quite understanding.”

Strategies for Nursing Programs Recruit more male faculty. Clinical assignments - men in groups. Co-sign students with men nurses (preceptors). Use/promote dev of gender-neutral teaching materials. Nurse educators reflect on their own feelings regarding men in nursing.

Strategies for Nursing Programs Same assignments for female & male students in all clinical areas. Male faculty advisors for men students if possible. Gender neutral Recruitment Committee market materials. Nsg faculty need to have greater understanding of learning styles of male nsg students.

Strategies for Nursing Programs Faculty need to provide guidance for male & female students in working with pts to provide personal care. Work with school guidance counsellors in providing information about nsg as an appropriate career for male & female students. Use of professional male role models within the classroom/clinical area.

Implications Provide feedback to Nurse Educators Provide feedback to Recruitment Committee

Acknowledgements Thank you to all participants! Funding: Atlantic Region Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing Research Grant Memorial University School of Nursing Research Grant

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