Exploring Men's Perceived Educational Experiences in a Baccalaureate Program

Click here to read a Letter to the Editor about this article. ABSTRACT Nursing school is the first place that men are likely to experience nursing in the professional sense. This study explored and documented men’s perceptions of their experiences in baccalaureate nursing education. Face-to-face audiotaped interviews were conducted with 13 male nursing students who were in their last semester at three baccalaureate nursing programs. Qualitative methods were used to analyze their responses. The findings showed a lack of enjoyment of nursing school, the importance of career opportunities, frustrating communication differences, and the desire for more male nurse educators. Recommendations for future research include obtaining female students’ perspectives on these questions, researching male students from different types of programs, and studying male graduate students to discover why so few become educators. AUTHORS Received: November 19, 2004 Accepted: November 11, 2005 Ms. Ellis is Instructor, and Dr. Meeker and Dr. Hyde are Professors of Nursing, Southeastern Louisiana University, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Address correspondence to D. Michele Ellis, MSN, RN, BC, 4849 Essen Lane, Baton Rouge, LA 70809; e-mail: mellis@selu.edu.