The Stories of Three Male Nurses’ Career Choices and Actualizing

• Main Authors: Chia-Min, Wu, 吳佳敏
• Other Authors: 劉淑慧
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/71849908599408633879

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 輔導與諮商學系所 === 97 === The research was to inquiry how male nurses in Taiwan construct and realize their life visions and the interaction between their self-identity and the cultural narrative perceived. In their life story narrative, the experiences of their career choices and actualizing were revealed, and how male nurses choose what they want and the ways to accomplish their goals were conveyed. Crossley’s narrative psychological analysis (based on McAdams’ theory) was adopted as the methodology, and three male nurses were participated in the research. The research results showed that these three male subjects though being a small part of nurses in the work filed with less expectation as female nurses usually had, they could develop professional identity and progress their nursing careers with the advantage of playing traditional gender roles as “the breadwinners” while female nurses found more difficulties to get such social support. Life vision construction and actualization through the life choice of the male nurse students: First, these three male subjects all obtain the opportunities to start the nursing career under the entrance examination system. Second, they’re all aware of the restrictions of a man to study nursing courses. Furthermore, the impact degree shows the individual differences. Third, they all identify / create the value of choosing nursing career through reflecting the past experience and collecting new information. Forth, when facing the conflict between “want to be” and “should be”, they all tend to meet the prerequisite of “want to be” by making adjustments and trade-offs. Fifth, the thread of choosing nursing courses reflects a man should pursue career achievements in first priority. Life vision construction and actualization through the interaction between male nurses and their working environment: First, instead of changing themselves to join most female colleagues, they all tend to keep their original male identity. Second, reflecting the school experience, they all exam that all over again—“Do nursing career really what they want to be?” When they in school, they only felt the pressure and didn’t aware the advantage of being the less gender. The cultural narrative—“ man is honorable and woman is humble”, is reversed by male who choose nurses as his career. The body care of nursing job is limited by the gender boundary—“man and woman shouldn’t touch each other when they are not in the relationship.” The key point to inspire the male nurses to evaluate the present choice is subjective feelings. Third, men live in nursing working field, and their perception is able to demonstrate / maintain self-identity. Both the barriers and the advantages of a male nurse are following the culture which demands “man is honorable and woman is humble.” Male nurses present the life theme of their own self-identities under the traditional gender division awareness. Life vision construction and actualization through the choices of the male nurses: The choice of a man who wants to leave the nursing job demonstrates the importance of achievement content. To stay is just because that the biological and social needs for survival take precedence over the satisfaction of the mind. The next step for a man to leave his original location should be to pursue advancement. The future hope of the male nurses demonstrates the significant meaning. To sum up, in the process of the life vision construction and actualization of the male nurses, the interaction between the self-identity and the subjective cultural narrative reflects the following tendency. First, the choices of the life vision demonstrate the expectations of gender role. Second, the construction and the actualization of the life vision blend with the cultural narrative. Third, the gender construction of patriarchy society involves with existence. As a result, it remains all the time. Forth, in the context of life world, people would find the way to balance their own responsibilities and unique life at the same time. Finally, the researcher provided the contribution, limitation, and personal reflection of the case studies, and offered suggestions for career counseling practice, nursing education institutes, and further research development.