Male nursing students' perception of dignity in neonatal intensive care units

Maintaining dignity is one of the most important human rights. However, maintaining and promoting the dignity of nursing students as an important caregiver group has scarcely been considered. Dignity can be viewed as an abstract concept particularly in relation to the perspective of male nursing student perspective. Therefore, more investigation is required to explore the male students' understanding of the concept of dignity.

The purpose of this study is to define and explain the concept of dignity among male nursing students in the neonatal intensive care unit.

This is a qualitative content analysis study. The data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews. The data were analyzed by conventional content analysis method.

Twenty male nursing students in public health centers in Iran were selected by targeted sampling to achieve data saturation between February 2017 and November 2017.

The findings of this study were presented in three main themes, including "extensive support," "belief in ability," and "participation in decision making," and 7 sub-categories of data were extracted.

The study's protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and the ethical principles were followed throughout the study.

According to the findings of the study, male nursing students required extensive support, and their academic and practical skills required to be respected; in addition, they should be involved in decision making, because in such an environment, the dignity of these students will be maintained and promoted. Therefore, it is suggested that a cultural, professional, and institutional background in which all components of the male nursing student's dignity are protected and emphasized should be provided.