STAFF NURSES, PERCEPTION OF GENDER’S ROLE STRAINS AT ALEXANDRIA MAIN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL.

As a tradition, nursing is perceived as a distinctly feminine career this perception may deter some men from choosing a career in nursing and presents challenges for others who are currently in the profession. Despite the changes, that impact the nursing profession role strain remains a constant burden on male nurses. It typically occurs due to difficulty in exercising the duties of multiple roles and fulfilling the required quality of nursing care. There are four causes of role strain were mentioned: role conflict, role overload, role ambiguity, and role incongruity. The study of role strain among nursing staff should be an important issue for hospital leaders and nurses because a better understanding and identifying role strain them may assist in making changes to improve job satisfaction and retention. Objective: To assess staff nurses' perception of gender role strain in Alexandria Main University Hospital. Settings: The study was carried out in Alexandria Main University Hospital affiliated with Alexandria University with (1703) beds. Egypt. Subjects: The study subject will include (N=294): All male staff nurses were included in the study (N= 62), and female staff nurses were (N=232). Tools: One tool was used in this study: The gender role strains sheet. Which was developed by the researcher based on relative literature, Carte(2014), Rovithis et al(2017), and Morter (2010). Results: more than half 52.1% of the studied nurses had high total gender role strains while more than two-fifths 43.5% had moderate gender role strains and only 4.4% of them had low gender role strains. Also, female nurses had significantly higher levels than male nurses in all total subdomains of gender role strains. Conclusion: more than half of the studied nurses had high total gender role strains. Recommendations: Increase awareness of the community regarding nursing as an appropriate profession for both genders.