Joining the nursing profession in Qatar: motives and perceptions.

We aimed to identify why female students in Qatar decide to become nurses and how the students perceived the community attitude towards nursing. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire was distributed to all (57) female students of the four academic classes of the Nursing Unit, University of Qatar for the academic year 1999-2000. The two commonest reasons for joining the nursing profession were an interest in medical services and the humanitarian nature of nursing. There were 33 (57.89%) students who considered there was a negative community attitude towards nursing mainly due to the presence of male patients and colleagues and the working hours. A mass media campaign and govemmental support were two strategies suggested to change this.