Professional becoming of male nurses: a qualitative study in Lithuania

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To reveal the features of Lithuanian male nurses’ professional becoming.

Methods

The participants were six men who had been working as nurses for over a year, and one man who had been formerly employed as a nurse for over a year. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using inductive thematic analysis by Braun & Clarke.

Results

17 themes emerged after analysis: nursing not being the first choice, weird feelings of being in the minority during studies, having a vague initial idea of the work and a hard time starting the job; desire to help and interact with people, a tiring but fascinating variety of work, wide professional opportunities and love for the job; the challenges of high pace and workload, undervaluation and stereotypes, coping by standing up for oneself and separating work and life; the importance of a good team, gender being of little significance and joy that the number of men is increasing.

Conclusion

These findings contribute to the growing knowledge of male nurses’ experiences. The study sheds light on the challenges and rewards of being a male nurse in Lithuania, providing guidance for future research and highlighting the need to raise public awareness.

KEYWORDS:

• Male nurses
• professional becoming
• entry into profession
• work experiences
• qualitative research
• thematic analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualization, A.G. and J.Ž.; methodology, A.G. and J.Ž.; validation, A.G.; formal analysis, A.G.; investigation, A.G.; resources, A.G. and J.Ž.; data curation, A.G.; writing—original draft preparation, A.G.; writing—review and editing, J.Ž.; visualization, A.G.; supervision, J.Ž.; project administration, A.G. and J.Ž. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not consent to have their transcripts made publicly available, as they contain personal information which could be used to identify the participants. Therefore, the data is only available internally and interested parties are advised to contact the corresponding author. The authors attest that the interview transcripts contain the information needed to support the findings of the study.

Ethics approval statement

This study was approved by the Bioethics Center of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (No. BEC-SP(B)-29).

Geolocation information

This study was conducted in Lithuania.

Informed consent statement

Informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Aušrinė Gribačiauskaitė

Aušrinė Gribačiauskaitė is currently a master’s student of Clinical Health Psychology in the Lithuanian university of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania. She conducted this study as part of her bachelor’s thesis, titled “Professional becoming of male nurses”. Her main research interests are the experiences of healthcare professionals, societal stereotypes and stigmas, and family dynamics.

Jolanta Žilinskienė

Jolanta Žilinskienė is a medical psychologist, researcher and lecturer at the Lithuanian university of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania. She obtained a PhD in Biomedical Sciences in 2022 and served as a bachelor’s thesis advisor for Aušrinė Gribačiauskaitė during her studies. Her current focus interests are diabetology, child, couple and family psychology, and the psychological well-being of healthcare professionals.