Nursing is considered a female-oriented profession. Until recently, most nurses were female. The number of male nurses is increasing in recent years; however, they face many gender role strains in the current nursing environment. Gender stereotypes and gender bias toward nursing confuses male nursing students. An understanding of the nature of male students could help nursing educators develop proper teaching methods for nursing students. However, so far, there is no measurement instrument designed to examine male nurses’ perceived gender-friendliness barriers in nursing education programs in Taiwan.This study aims to test and validate the Gender-Friendliness Barriers in Nursing Programs (GFB-NP) questionnaire, which is based on related literature review.
Methods:
This study adopted a cross-sectional and descriptive research design. Participants were recruited from four universities in Central Taiwan. A convenience sample of 459 nursing students completed the GFB-NP questionnaire. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the items and measurement model, using the LISREL program, Version 8.52.
Results:
The CFA identified a 20-item second-order factor for GFB-NP questionnaire. The questionnaire contains three components: “barriers to belonging,” “barriers to clinical practice,” and “course-related barriers.” The fit indices showed an acceptable fit overall for the full model (chi-square/df = 492.5/161=3.06; normed fit index, NFI = 0.94; comparative fit index, CFI = 0.96; goodness of fit index, GFI = 0.90; and root mean square error of approximation, RMSEA = 0.067). The intercorrelation coefficients of the three components are as follows: between “barriers to belonging” and “barriers to clinical practice,” 0.53 (p < .01); “barriers to belonging” and “course-related barriers,” 0.57 (p < .01); and “barriers to clinical practice” and “course-related barriers,” 0.55 (p < .01).
Conclusion:
The GFB-NP questionnaire is a reliable and valid method to examine nursing students’ perceived gender-friendliness barriers in clinical education programs. It could help nursing educators to understand the nature of men and to develop and adopt proper teaching methods for nursing students.