Factors influencing the healthcare programme selection of students in an Irish university

dc.check.date2025-12-26en
dc.check.infoAccess to this article is restricted until 12 months after publication by request of the publisheren
dc.contributor.authorMurphy, Roisin L.en
dc.contributor.authorMurphy, Kevin D.en
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-14T10:44:10Z
dc.date.available2025-01-14T10:44:10Z
dc.date.issued2024-12-26en
dc.description.abstractBackground: Globally, there is a rapidly increasing proportion of women studying and practising healthcare. This has been accompanied by a reducing proportion of males in most healthcare professions. This has been a contributory factor to the decreasing health staffing due to the tendency of females to work fewer hours and leave their profession earlier. Considering the current shortage of healthcare workers, it is of utmost importance to determine the factors generating these choices, so that recruitment of a significant number of males is not missed. The main objective of this study was to ascertain differences between factors that influence men and women who are students in one Irish university. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with postgraduate and undergraduate Pharmacy, Nursing, Medicine, and Dentistry students. The interviews were then transcribed and a thematic analysis was applied to identify patterns and interrelationships in the data. Participants answered questions pertaining to the factors which influenced them to study healthcare. Results: Fourteen students participated in recorded interviews, with 8 of them being women. The interviews lasted between 12 and 27 min (mean: 18 min). Four themes were identified: (1) student characteristics, (2) content interest needs, (3) perceived career characteristics, and (4) external encouragement. This study confirmed that there is a social perception of some healthcare professions as a women's profession. The factors that influence men and women to study healthcare differed in some ways; females were more drawn to careers by which they could use empathy, while males were more interested by career prospects. Conclusions: This study offers insight into the decisions of students about their choice of healthcare profession. The study highlights factors that can be targeted by institutions wishing to increase the proportion of men or women in their professions. Using channels such as social media, school visits, and promotion of role models to demonstrate the variety of positions within each profession in terms of work-life balance, salary, career opportunity.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid102238en
dc.identifier.citationMurphy, R. L. and Murphy, K. D. (2024) 'Factors influencing the healthcare programme selection of students in an Irish university', Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 17(3), 102238 (20pp). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2024.102238en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2024.102238en
dc.identifier.endpage20en
dc.identifier.issn1877-1297en
dc.identifier.issued3en
dc.identifier.journaltitleCurrents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learningen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/16812
dc.identifier.volume17en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherElsevier Inc.en
dc.relation.ispartofCurrents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learningen
dc.rights© 2024, Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. This manuscript version is made available under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectQualitative researchen
dc.subjectPharmacy educationen
dc.subjectGenderen
dc.subjectRecruitmenten
dc.titleFactors influencing the healthcare programme selection of students in an Irish universityen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
oaire.citation.issue3en
oaire.citation.volume17en
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