Cultural Viewpoints of Nursing Students on Patient Privacy: A Qualitative Study

The purpose of this study was to determine the feelings, thoughts, perceptions and cultural standpoint of nursing students concerning patient privacy. This study was conducted as a qualitative descriptive design. The homogeneous sampling method, purposive sampling method for qualitative research samples, was used to determine the study group. Data were collected from 17 nursing students at a state university in Turkey. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted, and content analysis was used to analyze data. Three main themes emerged from the data: perception of privacy, factors affecting patient privacy and suggested solutions. Four sub-categories emerged: religion, gender, culture and reassuring communication. The perceptions of many of the students relating to the concept of privacy coincided with the concepts of confidentiality and all kinds of information concerning the patient. It was seen that the most effective intervention among the students' solution proposals to ensure privacy was the necessity to make physical improvements in hospitals.