A preliminary study of the work values of male nurses in Taiwan and related factors

Background: Male nurses account for 1.08% of Taiwan's total professional nursing workforce. While work values are known to impact the practice of female nurses, the work values of male nurses have never been fully evaluated. Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the work values of male nurses in Taiwan and related factors. Methods: We applied a cross-sectional design that targeted all male nurses nationwide and used a structured questionnaire distributed by mail to collect data. Results: Data were collected from 1,087 Taiwan-based male nurses with 745 valid responses. Mean score for overall work value was 2.78 (on a maximum scale of 4). Socio-demographic differences contributed to work value variance among respondents. Major factors of influence on work value included education, work unit, work position, work rank, salary, hospital classification, and reason for choosing a nursing career. Conclusion: This study found personal characteristics, occupational roles, job performance, and reason for choosing a career in nursing to all correlate strongly with work value.