Nurses’ attitudes towards homosexuality and affecting factors: A cross-sectional descriptive study

A BSTRACT Aim: This study was aimed at assessing the attitudes of professional nurses providing healthcare services in hospitals towards homosexuals from an ethical aspect by determining the influencing factors and the problems they experience during the provision of healthcare services. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between May and September 2022 with 206 nurses working in a public hospital. Data were collected using the ‘Nurse Information Form’ and ‘The Hudson-Ricketts Index of Homophobia’. ‘The Independent Sample-t test’, ‘Mann-Whitney U’, ‘ANOVA’ and ‘Kruskal-Wallis H’ test were used to compare three or more independent groups. Results: Among participating nurses, 50.5% perceived homosexuality as a disease, 68.4% reported no difficulty communicating with homosexual individuals, 71.4% believed that homosexuality is not something to be ashamed of, and 80.1% stated that they lacked adequate knowledge about homosexuality. The mean total Hudson-Ricketts Index of Homophobia (HRIH) score was 99.90 ± 26.21. Conclusion: The findings indicate that nurses’ prejudices contribute to negative discrimination. Enhancing societal acceptance of sexual diversity and fostering tolerant attitudes are essential to reducing prejudice. Comprehensive integration of sexual and gender minority health care into nursing education curricula is therefore imperative.