Male nursing students' experiences during prelicensure education: An integrative review

Abstract

Background: Males represent less than 10 % of the global nursing workforce. To increase the recruitment and representation of male nurses, their experiences in prelicensure nursing education must be understood.

Objectives: The purpose of this integrative review was to explore literature related to male nursing students' experiences during prelicensure education.

Design: An integrative review of the literature was conducted using Whittemore and Knafl's methodology.

Data sources: Database searches of CINAHL, PubMed, ERIC, Emcare, and Scopus were conducted.

Review methods: Database searches identified 237 articles for initial review. Titles, abstracts, and full-text articles were screened for relevance. Quality appraisal was evaluated using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool Version 2018. Data analysis was conducted using Conventional Content Analysis.

Results: Twenty-two articles (19 qualitative, two quantitative, and one mixed-methods) were included in this review. The existing literature suggests that male nursing students have generally negative experiences during their prelicensure education due to external reactions from family, friends, peers, and healthcare providers to their choice of nursing as a profession; lack of male role models; extensive assistance with physical tasks in the clinical setting; exclusion in obstetrics clinical experiences; and female-gendered descriptions of nurses within the educational environment. Fostering new relationships was identified as a positive experience during prelicensure education.

Conclusions: Generally, male nursing students have negative experiences during their prelicensure education, with limited positive experiences. As such, nurse educators should implement strategies, such as avoiding gendered references when referring to the nurse, offering male mentorship when possible, and providing comparable clinical assignments to students regardless of gender, to improve male nursing students' experiences in prelicensure education and, consequently, increase the recruitment and retention of men into the nursing profession. Future research is needed to more comprehensively understand male nursing students' experiences during prelicensure education and the impact of teaching strategies on their experiences.

Keywords: Baccalaureate; Experiences; Integrative review; Male nursing students; Prelicensure; Undergraduate.