Nurses’ attitude towards nursing profession in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of nurses’ attitudes toward the nursing profession and its associated factors in Ethiopia. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted by taking relevant studies from the following databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar. “Nurses” AND “attitude” OR “perception” AND “professionalism” AND “factors” were used as parts of searching. The quality of the articles was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for cross-sectional studies. The data were extracted using Microsoft Excel and exported into STATA version 17 software for meta-analysis analyses. Data analysis was done using a random effect model. To report the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline was followed. A total of ten studies with a sample size of 3049 were included for meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of good nurses’ attitudes toward the nursing profession was 55.74% (95% CI: 43.2–68.27); I 2 = 98.15, P < 0.00). Sex (AOR, 2.04, 95% CI (1.305–3.192), I2 = 0.00), age (AOR = 2.04, 95% CI (1.305–3.19)), educational status (AOR = 2.428, 95% CI (1.548–3.806)), types of hospitals (AOR = 1.847, 95% CI (1.296–2.398)), work experience (AOR = 2.165, 95% CI (1.180–3.97)), and income (AOR = 3.040 at 95% CI (1.605–5.755)) were significant factors of nurses’ attitude towards the nursing profession. The pooled prevalence showed that 55.74% of nurses had a positive attitude, influenced by sex, work experience, hospital type, income, age, and education. The Ministry of Health should address these factors to improve nurses’ attitudes and ensure quality healthcare nationwide.