Background

Saudi Arabia is now facing a critical nursing shortage and is under considerable pressure to recruit more local nurses. However, attracting Saudi Arabian women into the nursing profession has traditionally been difficult due to religious and cultural barriers.

Objectives

The study was designed to provide insights into the research participants’ experiences or awareness of conflicts between professional nursing values and the dominant religious and cultural values of Saudi Arabia.

Design

The research took the form of a qualitative case study.

Setting

The study was conducted at a leading university in Saudi Arabia.

Participants

The participants consisted of 24 female Muslim student nurses from the second and fourth years of study of the BSc Nursing degree and six female Muslim College of Nursing faculty members from the same university.

Methods

Data collection methods consisted of individual interviews and focus groups, and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The study used a theoretical framework based on Rokeach's (1973, 1979) theories of values and value change.

Results

All student participants were found to be experiencing conflicts between the nursing requirement to provide personal care to male patients, and their religious and cultural values relating to personal modesty. Faculty participants were aware of the presence of this value conflict, but it was not being formally acknowledged or addressed at the case study institution. The lack of official practice or policy guidance was found to be reinforcing the potential for the value conflict. Participants regarded religious values as fixed and mandatory, but cultural values as subject to change.

Conclusions

It was concluded that awareness-raising initiatives and open discussion of value conflicts should be conducted by the university to help realign the participants’ culturally influenced values with the requirements of nursing. The available Islamic guidance should also be used to clarify the institution's official position on the provision of personal care to male patients by Muslim female nurses and improve understanding of the nursing tasks acceptable within Islam.

中文翻译：

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进入禁区——为男性患者提供个人护理的穆斯林女学生护士的价值冲突：一项定性研究

背景

沙特阿拉伯现在面临着严重的护士短缺，并且面临着招聘更多当地护士的巨大压力。然而，由于宗教和文化障碍，传统上很难吸引沙特阿拉伯妇女进入护理行业。

目标

该研究旨在深入了解研究参与者的经验或对专业护理价值观与沙特阿拉伯主要宗教和文化价值观之间冲突的认识。

设计

该研究采用定性案例研究的形式。

环境

该研究是在沙特阿拉伯的一所一流大学进行的。

参与者

参与者包括 24 名来自护理学学士学位第二年和第四年的女性穆斯林学生护士和来自同一所大学的六名女性穆斯林护理学院教职员工。

方法

数据收集方法包括个人访谈和焦点小组，并采用专题分析来分析数据。该研究使用了基于 Rokeach (1973, 1979) 价值和价值变化理论的理论框架。

结果

所有学生参与者都被发现在为男性患者提供个人护理的护理要求与他们与个人谦虚相关的宗教和文化价值观之间存在冲突。教职员工意识到存在这种价值冲突，但案例研究机构并未正式承认或解决这一问题。发现缺乏官方实践或政策指导加剧了价值冲突的可能性。参与者认为宗教价值观是固定的和强制性的，但文化价值观是可以改变的。

结论

得出的结论是，大学应开展提高认识的举措和对价值冲突的公开讨论，以帮助重新调整参与者受文化影响的价值观与护理的要求。还应使用现有的伊斯兰指南来阐明该机构关于穆斯林女护士向男性患者提供个人护理的官方立场，并提高对伊斯兰教可接受的护理任务的理解。