Lived experiences of male nursing students with caring

Abstract

<p>Fifteen male nursing students from four baccalaureate nursing schools in West Virginia participated in this phenomenological study. The phenomena of interest was the lived experiences of male student nurses related to caring. Demographic data was obtained in the interview process. Semistructured interview questions were used in the individual interviews, which were all audiotaped. The methodology used was based on the Swanson-Kauffman and Schonwald method, which entailed the four step process of bracketing, analyzing, intuiting, and describing.</p> <p>Five themes were identified. The Primacy of Caring was the first theme. Characteristics of caring, the origins of caring, the lived experiences of caring as male student nurses, and the caring versus technology dichotomy were the essences of the first theme. The second theme was perceived gender differences relating to caring, which encompassed the essences of differences in caring provided by male and female students and perceptions of faculty caring related to gender. Perceptions concerning nursing education and nursing comprised the third theme. The first essence related to the perceptions concerning nursing education, while the second one contained perceptions of nursing and nurses. Stereotypes and gender were the four theme. Stereotypes about the sexuality of males in nursing and gender role assumptions were the two essences of the fourth theme. The last theme involved their future career directions including future educational endeavors and career specializations.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>