Nursing students’concerns towards nursing, in the south-west of Iran during 2022–2023: A cross-sectional study

AbstractBackgroundSelecting a career is the young people's main concern and is considered as one of the most important decisions that a person will make his/her in their lifetime. This study aimed at determining concerns among undergraduate nursing students regarding nursing.Methods300 participants were enrolled in the study. This study was descriptive-analytical cross-sectional. The research population consisted of 400 male and female undergraduate nursing students in Nursing and Midwifery Faculty. A researcher-made questionnaire that assessed the nursing students’ concerns towards the nursing profession with three sub-dimensions such as personal concerns(12 items), interpersonal concerns(3 items, social concerns(5 items) was used. After completion of the validation and reliability, the scale was reduced to 19 items. Using a 5-point Likert scale, we evaluated all responses to the second part of the questionnaire from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).ResultsThe majority of the students (55.7%) were female, (age range 18–35); 86.9% of them were single, 44.3% of them were males, (age range 18–29). It was revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between some items. However, there was statistically significant difference between some other items.ConclusionIt was determined that the majority of the participants chose nursing for the purpose of easily securing a job, that the participants held a negative perception of the profession and had a dream profession other than that of nursing. The majority of participants were concerned regarding the fact that they chose the nursing field in the university entrance exam and were studying in the nursing field. The society doesn’t respect the obtained clinical scientific capabilities of nurses and does not pay attention to the spiritual and humanitarian aspects of this field.