Beliefs and attitudes of final-year nursing students on honour crimes: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Accessible summary: Health providers often share the same stigmatizing attitudes as the population at large. As a key point of contact between the patient, community and the health and social welfare system, nurses have a vital role in recognizing, treating and preventing violence. This study supports the belief that gender may influence male and female nurses' perceptions and tolerance towards honour crimes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate perceptions of nursing students about honour crimes and examine their beliefs about inquiring information from the victims of honour crimes. A questionnaire including demographic data was administered to a sample of 225 male and female final-year students in a nursing school. Among them, we found that significantly more male students than female students justify honour crimes. Although the majority of both male and female nursing students believed that asking for honour crimes is useful, significantly more male than female nursing students were against screening for honour crimes. This study supports the belief that gender has an influence on nurses' perceptions, attitudes and tolerance of honour crimes. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing.