title: Joining the nursing profession in Qatar: motives and perceptions.
abstract: We aimed to identify why female students in Qatar decide to become nurses and how the students perceived the community attitude towards nursing. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire was distributed to all (57) female students of the four academic classes of the Nursing Unit, University of Qatar for the academic year 1999-2000. The two commonest reasons for joining the nursing profession were an interest in medical services and the humanitarian nature of nursing. There were 33 (57.89%) students who considered there was a negative community attitude towards nursing mainly due to the presence of male patients and colleagues and the working hours. A mass media campaign and govemmental support were two strategies suggested to change this.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing, University of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Okasha
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Ziady
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000533:Altruism; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002321:Career Choice; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D017533:Marital Status; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D008402:Mass Media; D009042:Motivation; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009341:Negativism; D024802:Nurse's Role; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011780:Qatar; D012938:Social Perception; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload