Career Obstacles Faced by Female Nurse Academicians in Turkey

Most academicians in the nursing field are women, and they face many difficulties throughout the course of their careers for various reasons.

This study aims to determine the career difficulties faced by female academicians in the nursing field.

This study is descriptive, sectional, and comparative. The study was conducted in cooperation with female academicians in the nursing field (n = 132) from 11 different nursing schools in Turkey's Eastern Anatolia Region providing undergraduate education in nursing. Data were collected using the Female Academicians' Career Obstacles Scale. Ethics committee and required official permissions were obtained from the relevant institutions. Data analysis was conducted in an electronic environment using SPSS for Windows 22.0 package software for statistics.

In terms of research outcomes, it was determined that the most significant obstacles reported by female academicians were "organizational culture and politics" (M = 43.92 ± 12.64) and "playing multiple roles" (M = 31.35 ± 10.15); the most insignificant obstacles were reported to be "organizational conditions" (M = 21.43 ± 7.06) and "stereotypical prejudices" (M = 20.44 ± 6.31). Other obstacles mentioned by the academicians were working as a research assistant with a bachelor's degree, being married with children, studying with young and inexperienced academicians, and serving as department head.

Organizational culture and politics in particular should be reviewed at educational institutions from the perspective of career obstacles, and these principles should be rearranged so that they constitute a supportive work environment.