Relationships among social support, professional empowerment, and nursing career development of male nurses: a cross-sectional analysis.

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among social support, professional empowerment, and nursing career development and to identify the significant factors that affect nursing career development among male nurses. A cross-sectional survey design was used with 314 male nurses in Taiwan. Social support and professional empowerment were significantly and positively correlated with nursing career development among male nurses. Social support, professional empowerment, salary, type of institution, type of clinical level, and nursing discipline were identified as factors that significantly influenced nursing career development. Together, they accounted for 55.9% of the total variation. Professional empowerment was the most critical predictor of nursing career development and accounted for 47.7% of the variation. Nursing managers should follow male nurses' empowerment with interest and specifically address professional empowerment to promote male nurses' career development.