[Aim of the study: To assess the willingness of students at the Faculty of Health Sciences of Semmelweis University, with respect to the preferred number of children and the planned date of the first birth. To gain an understanding of student attitudes in relation to motherhood and the role of the woman and the relevance of the traditional family model today. Further, to examine the differences in responses from students of the three specialist areas. Methodology and sample: The authors conducted the quantitative sociological survey, based on a self-completion questionnaire, among 2nd, 3rd and 4th year student nurses, student midwifes and student health visitors at the Semmelweis University Faculty of Health Sciences. The results were analysed with the SPSS 19.0 program, using a descriptive statistical method. The proportion of useful responses to the questionnaire was 94.1% (N=257). Results: The majority of the students planned to have children, at an average age of 26.5. The preferred number of children was two or three in most cases. The majority would like to start a family when married, and regard the daily caring for children as mainly the woman’s task, which shows support for the traditional family model. In their present/future circumstances, health visitors expressed a preference for motherhood in the highest numbers, and nurses in the lowest numbers (p=0.,012). Conclusions: The student nurses, midwives and health visitors at the Faculty of Health Sciences clearly plan to start families in the future. They have a traditional attitude towards the maternal role, but putting these ideas into practice is made more difficult by their paramedical vocation. Nurses and midwives, in particular, are in danger of a conflict of roles in their future lives, for reasons such as the shift working and secondary jobs. ]
COMMENTS
0 comments