Brain Drain-Related Perspectives of Senior Nursing Students in Türkiye: A Qualitative Study

Objective: This study was aimed at investigating the brain drain-related perspectives of nursing students who wanted to emigrate in depth. Methods: The study has the descriptive qualitative research design. The population of the study comprised 13 senior nursing students studying at the Faculty of Nursing of a university and intending to emigrate abroad. Data were collected through face-to-face individual in-depth interviews. The interviews were audio-recorded after the participants’ permission was obtained. This study adopted a qualitative research design based on inductive content analysis to explore the participants’ perspectives in depth. Results: In this study, three themes emerged from the students' opinions: "Perception of brain drain", "Motivation behind brain drain" and "Challenges". The first theme reflected students’ varied views on migration, including both positive and negative perceptions, a growing social trend towards emigration, and feelings of hopelessness and dissatisfaction with nursing in Türkiye, leading to the formation of personal migration plans. The second theme captured motivations such as the influence of relatives and role models abroad, favourable personal conditions, attractive opportunities overseas, language efforts, and openness to new experiences. The final theme focused on challenges, including push factors like poor working conditions and low wages, barriers such as language and time constraints, and emotional concerns such as loneliness and cultural adjustment. Conclusion: The study showed that nursing students’ intention to emigrate stems from mixed perceptions of brain drain, strong personal and social motivations, and various emotional and structural challenges. Addressing these issues may help mitigate future nurse migration.