Attitudes of nursing students toward gender roles: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Nurses can play a critical role in the development of equalitarian perspectives of gender roles.

Aims: This study was conducted to determine the attitudes toward gender roles of Turkish nursing students’ and to examine the factors affecting these attitudes.

Design: The study used a cross-sectional descriptive relational design.

Methods: The data were collected with “The Characteristics Form” and “Gender Roles Attitude Scale (GRAS)”.

Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the GRAS total score means, which determine the attitudes of the students to gender roles, according to their university, age, gender, length of residency, number of siblings, family type, parents’ educational background and mother's employment status (p < .05).

Conclusions: There should be training programs for parents in order to maintain gender equality.

Impact statement: The results indicate that nurse students possess an egalitarian attitude toward gender roles. This would contribute to decreasing gender discrimination in health.

Keywords:

• nursing students
• gender roles
• egalitarian/ traditional attitude toward gender roles
• affecting factors
• gender discrimination in health

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Gender and Women’s Studies Center, Koç University [2011].