From: The relationship between empathy and altruistic motivations in nursing studies: a multi-method study
Theme | Brief description | Illustrative quotes |
---|---|---|
HEL | Willingness to feel useful and to affect the health of others. | ‘I want to be of help to others; I want to contribute to trying to improve the lives of others.’ ‘I chose this degree programme to make myself useful for others’ |
HUM | The desire to enter into contact with other people. | ‘I chose the degree course in nursing ... because I like being in contact with people.’ ‘I love being in contact with people.’ |
FAM | Significant others, such as family members, have significant influence on the students’ career decision. | ‘Also, because there is a nurse in my family, that is, my grandmother, who was always an example for me.’ ‘When my brother, also a nurse, told me about his experiences in the ward, I was fascinated.’ |
TOP | A personal interest in health-related scientific topics. | ‘I chose this course of study because I like the subjects in this degree course.’ ‘First of all, because I love the subjects that are studied in the nursing degree course.’ |
JOB | The possibility of secure employment and job stability. | ‘I chose the undergraduate degree in nursing... to have greater job opportunities after finishing my studies.’ ‘Another reason … is that I hope to find work faster.’ |
EXP | Healthcare-related experience, such as voluntary work in healthcare settings or a family member’s hospitalisation. | ‘I have chosen to undertake these studies and subsequently enrol in the degree course in nursing because I feel alive only when I help and support others and I received confirmation following the illness of a person to whom I was very attached.’ ‘I found myself at home in close contact with a grandfather to look after, I was his personal nurse, and this made me a happy person.’ |
Other | Not being able to get into other chosen study programmes, etc. | ‘…I tried (to get into) the medicine degree course, but I wasn’t admitted.’ |