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To consolidate and appraise available evidence on the experiences and perceptions of male nurses and male midwives facing discrimination.
Qualitative systematic review. This review was informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA).
The Critical Appraisal Skills Program checklist was used to appraise included articles, and extracted data were meta-summarised and meta-synthesised using Sandelowski and Barroso's two-step approach.
PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, ProQuest (Dissertations and Theses Global) and ClinicalTrials.gov were sourced from the inception to December 2022.
A total of 21 studies were included, involving 283 male nurses and 11 male midwives. Four themes were identified during the meta-synthesis: (1) It's a ‘women's world’, (2) discrimination within and beyond the workplace, (3) stereotypes and labels and (4) the silver lining.
This review offered male nurses' and male midwives' perspectives on discrimination faced in nursing. There is a need to ensure gender equality in the nursing profession by reinforcing the importance and value of employing men in this profession.
Future research should focus on examining the experiences of male nursing students and other healthcare stakeholders to understand discrimination faced by men in nursing from varied geographical and cultural backgrounds. The findings may provide helpful insights for planning supportive interventions, institutional adjustments, legislative changes, educational initiatives and research that benefit male nurses and male midwives.
This qualitative systematic review consolidated and meta-synthesised the available evidence on male nurses' and male midwives' experiences of discrimination. These findings contribute to the understanding of male nurses and male midwives as a gender minority and the need for greater gender equality.
PRISMA.
No patient or public contribution.
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