title: Iranian nursing students' experiences of nursing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The negative attitudes and behaviors of Iranian nursing students impede learning and threaten their progression and retention in nursing programs. The need to understand students' perception and experiences of nursing provide knowledge about effectiveness of nursing education program as well as their professional identity. The purpose of this study was to discover experiences of nursing students.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a descriptive, exploratory and qualitative study, twelve senior nursing students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (School of Nursing and Midwifery) were participated. Data was collected via unstructured in-depth interview, and thematic analysis method was used for analyzing the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings from this study revealed that the nursing students in Iran experienced altered experiences during their education program as positive and negative. Two major themes were constructed from the thematic analysis of the transcripts: professional dimensions and professional conflicts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regarding the findings, positive experiences of students have leaded them to acceptance and satisfaction of nursing and negative experiences to rejection and hating of nursing and lack of adaptation with their professional roles. Therefore, it is recommended that revision and improvement in nursing education program is essential to facilitate positive experiences and remove negative experiences of nursing student's educational environment.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Farzaneh Gholami
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Motlagh
authors.forename: Mahboubeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karimi
authors.forename: Marzieh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasanpour
keywords: Perception; nursing; qualitative research; students