The Iranians’ Attitude toward the Social Status of the Nursing Profession

The social status of nurses is one of the factors affecting the professional identity and plays an important role in how people perceive this profession and also the tendency of people to this profession. So this study was conducted to determine the Iranian population's attitude toward the social status of the nursing profession.

This descriptive-analytical cross-section study was conducted in public places in Hamadan from October to February 2019. Four hundred citizens participated in the study by available sampling method from 4 urban areas of Hamedan. The data were collected by a social status researcher-made questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS 16 and, parametric statistical tests such as t-test and ANOVA and non-parametric tests such as Chi-square.

The mean age of participants was 34.30±9.98 years. The mean of the obtained score from the status questionnaire was 71.23±11.76, which was at a moderate level in qualitative leveling. Statistical tests showed that social status score was statistically significantly related to gender, education, and media relations (p<0.05).

Considering that individuals' attitudes on the social status of the nursing profession are moderate and people who had more contact with the media reported lower scores of social status, it is recommended that members of the media take action to reflect the true image of the nursing profession.