Downloaded from http://journals.lww.com/neponline by BhDMf5ePHKbH4TTImqenVICwrFV2Grwdsxpnfu2R4FPI0SChaE0r46jTrLHv8YwX on 10/06/2020 Who Wants To Be a Nurse? Understanding Emirati Female Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes About Nursing as a Career Nazneen Maymoun and M. Sadiq Sohail Abstract AIM The aim of this study was to increase understanding of female high school students’ intentions to pursue a nursing career. The objective is to explore theories on attitudinal research and propose a research model that examines the relationship between attitude, knowledge, and impact on intention to pursue a nursing career. BACKGROUND There is a paucity of research on understanding the reasons for the shortage of local nurses in the United Arab Emirates. METHOD Data were collected from 157 female high school students. The research model was empirically tested using standard procedures. RESULTS Findings support some of the proposed direct and interactional effects. Attitude is a predictor of intention of high school students to pursue a nursing profession. The interaction effect of attitude and knowledge significantly predicts intention. CONCLUSION The study calls for further investigation on the effects of attitude and knowledge on students’ intention to pursue a nursing career and bring about changes in thinking. KEY WORDS Attitude and Knowledge – Nursing Career – Student Intention N urses are essential to health care and comprise the largest component of the health care workforce (Fort, Deussom, Burlew, Gilroy, & Nelson, 2017). An increasing gap between supply and demand has triggered a shortage of nurses across the globe (Haczyński, Ryć, Skrzypczak, & Suchecka, 2017). The shortage of nursing professionals is a multifaceted phenomenon requiring inter- vention from various stakeholders. Although numerous studies have attempted to understand and develop strategies for overcoming the nursing shortage, there is a need to consider a wider perspective globally as well as local causes leading to the nursing shortage (Marć, Bartosiewicz, Burzyńska, Chmiel, & Januszewicz, 2019). A system- atic review of literature concluded that there are complex reasons trig- gering the shortage (Chan, Tam, Lung, Wong, & Chau, 2013). Several studies have also been undertaken on strategies to at- tract and retain nursing professionals (Kroezen et al., 2015). Most of these have been undertaken in developed countries. A recent study in the United States found that the educational system has failed to address factors dampening the graduation of sufficient numbers of students (De Chesnay & Anderson, 2019). The nursing shortage is no different in Middle Eastern na- tions. The shortage of qualified nurses in these countries has been alleviated by hiring expatriate nurses, primarily from the Philippines, India, Egypt, and other Arab and Asian countries. However, for the last several years, with rising unemployment, governments have made efforts to provide jobs to the local pop- ulation. Nations have put employment programs in place and coined terms such as Saudization in Saudi Arabia, Omanization in Oman, and Emiratization in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). There is a paucity of research in the UAE on the reasons for the shortage of local nurses and how to attract students to the profes- sion. This study is an attempt to fill that gap. As nursing is predomi- nantly a female profession and public schools in the UAE segregate high school students by gender, the target population for this study was students from female schools. The purpose was to understand high school students’ attitudes and knowledge about the nursing profession and their intent to pursue this profession. The findings will be useful to policy makers and nursing management for devising appropriate recruitment strategies. BACKGROUND The UAE has a high-quality health system characterized by well- equipped, well-staffed, and qualified health care providers. The com- petency of nurses is taken seriously and with high stakes, including legal consequences for malpractice (Aqtash et al., 2017). Qualified Emirati nurses are required to have a baccalaureate and master’s de- gree to work as RNs in public hospitals; expatriate nurses require a bachelor’s in nursing with at least two years' experience. In addition, nurses are required to pass a written exam in English before obtaining a license to work; registration and licensure are under the jurisdiction of the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi, Dubai Health Authority, and the UAE Ministry of Health (Brownie, Hunte, Aqtash, & Day, 2015). About the Authors Nazneen Maymoun, MDA, RN, is director of nursing, Ministry of Health, Sharjah Medical District, United Arab Emirates. M. Sadiq Sohail, PhD, is a professor of marketing, Department of Management and Marketing, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, United Arab Emirates. For more information, contact Dr. Sohail at ssohail@kfupm.edu.sa. The authors have declared no conflict of interest. Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL cita- tions appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal’s website (www.neponline.net). Copyright © 2020 National League for Nursing doi: 10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000659 E14 May/June 2020 www.neponline.net Copyright © 2020 National League for Nursing. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.