Introducing a feminist perspective to nursing curricula: a quantitative study

Feminist concerns of the nursing profession are examined and it is argued that feminism provides the ideology and impetus for social change. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects on the attitudes and beliefs of nursing students who take a feminist-oriented women's health course. The course went beyond a scientific model of women's health and examined women's health issues as they are related to the concerns of women as consumers and providers. A questionnaire assessing the effects of the course was administered at the beginning and again at the end of the course. Results indicated that the course produced significant changes in the attitudes and beliefs of the experimental subjects in areas of professional activism; high regard for self, nurses, and women; and social activism against sexism in the media and violence against women.