Voice: Never hidden - the articulation of learning by male students of undergraduate nursing.

Ryan, Jane. 2010. Voice: Never hidden - the articulation of learning by male students of undergraduate nursing. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.

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Abstract

Aim: To discover how male students of nursing in Wales, articulate how they learn in the college pre-registration nursing environment Epistemological framework: The language of hegemony, hegemonic masculinity, complicity, marginalization and subordination from ConnelFs (1995) masculinities framework was revised to create what is called Ryan's model, which guided this study. Ryan's model was developed pre-analysis and post analysis. Pre-analysis, hegemony was interpreted as 'dominance and male positioning' and post analysis became 'dominance reduced/ mutual and neutral appreciation of nursing undergraduate peers'. Pre-analysis hegemonic masculinity was interpreted as 4Men: their gendered practice in society' and post analysis 4Men: their gendered practice in undergraduate nursing'. Pre-analysis - complicity was termed as hidden maleness and post analysis 'Maleness surfaces through the articulation of learning needs and demonstration of their learning'. Pre-analysis marginalization was interpreted as 'Imposed feelings of marginalization on learning opportunities' and post analysis 'Exclusion and being excluded feelings of inferiority when learning and visualising procedures in clinical practice. In the pre-analysis, Subordination was interpreted as 'gendered subordination' and post analysis as scenarios that captured the principles behind the 'in and out groups' and scenarios 'looking at inferior and superior knowledge'. The main ethos that gender is socially constructed connects to the analytical approach of Charmaz (2006). Methodology and methods: Thirteen participants took part in the two pilot studies and eleven in the main study. The research data consisted of tape recorded speech from focus groups and individual interviews. The analysis of fieldnotes contributed to triangulation. The aim was to develop a grounded theory based on how male students articulated how they learnt in the classroom and in clinical practice. Their implicit actions and speech were analysed using the contructivist grounded theory approach by Charmaz. Results: Four categories, along with a core category were developed. The core category, Voice: never hidden, released by masculinity captured the essence of the four categories. The act of coming together allowed a vocal space to discuss learning and how they see themselves in relation to the numerically dominant group. The male students retained their socially perceived masculinity by being able to voice how they learn through the dominance of their speech. Relationships within the classroom were de-gendered and a small number of participants assumed a neutral identity, 'the student nurse'. Limited opportunities resulted through discriminatory attitudes and the disability of dyslexia. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggested hegemonic masculinity was rarely practised through the medium of voice, but male students could openly call on the complicit nature of masculinity to voice how they learnt in college and in the clinical area. Their preferred route to acquire skills was through the visual route however, even the complicit nature of masculinity could not triumph in clinical practice to achieve learning with regards intimate care. Overall, the male student of nursing possesses masculinity, which is conducive with the nature of nursing and a sound ability to voice how they learn.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Status:	Unpublished
ISBN:	9781303224515
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	10 Jan 2018 05:24
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/55174

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