Men in Nursing: A Qualitative Examination of Students’ Stereotypes of Male Nurses through the Framework of Social Role Theory and Stereotype Content Model

Driven by overwhelming numerical dominance of women in the role of nurses, nursing profession over the last two centuries has been largely scripted with gendered characterizations. However, nuances that shape the language and wording choices that are evoked when describing the stereotypes targeting male nurses remain relatively unexplored. Our current research examined the way 117 female non-nursing and nursing students in Canada characterized male nurses using open-ended self-report measures and thematic qualitative analyses. We contribute to the literature on nursing, gender, and stereotypes by analyzing the personal attitudes and stereotypes held by young female students toward male nurses. Social role theory and the stereotype content model provided the theoretical underpinnings to explore and explain emergent stereotypes and stereotype content. Our findings suggest that students generate more communal, high-warmth characteristics for male nurses than agentic characteristics, suggesting possible paternalistic prejudice toward men in nursing.