Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 1

A Phenomenological Study - A Look Into Why Male Students of TUN OT 2015 Chose a
Predominantly Female Career Path
Jenna Babcock, Chris Guitierrez, Lauren Hoppe, Emily Matthews
Touro University Nevada














Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 2
Background
Since the health profession of occupational therapy (OT)was conceived in the early
1910s, many jobs were considered gender specific and it was taboo to work in the opposite
gender career field. However, today more males seem to be crossing the gender workforce lines.
They are crossing over to become nurses, teachers, hairdressers, and occupational therapists.
The purpose of this study was to identify why males would choose a career field like OT that is
characteristically predominated by females and what they believe they have to offer this field.
The main research questions included:
1. What are the main reasons males choose OT as a career?
2. Do males think they will perform better than a female would as an OT?
3. What advantages do you think male OTs have and how might their gender help the
field of OT?
4. How well do males work with females in a nontraditional career field such as OT?
Literature Review
Since its origin in early 1900s, occupational therapy has remained predominantly a
female profession. Although males are moving into dominant fields traditionally held by
females, the number of men practicing in occupational therapy is still small. In fact, males make
up only 5% of membership and typically occupy leadership positions within the profession.
More male occupational therapists are needed to provide male role models for clients, provide a
balance between male and female views in the profession, provide activities of daily living for
male clients, and to help with physically hard to manage clients (Rider, Brashear, 1988).
Lemkau (1981) found that females were more likely than males to consider a nontraditional
career and were more career oriented than females in traditional fields. Males in occupational
Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 3
therapy, however, are less likely to fulfill the typical male stereotypes prevalent in todays
society (Lemkau, 1981). A National Public Radio (NPR) interview of an occupational therapist
stated that occupational therapy is sometimes seen as a caretaking profession like nursing and
men traditionally have not been drawn to caretaking professions (Darden, 2010).
Male occupational therapists were interviewed and they stated the main reason for
choosing occupational therapy as a career was due to the opportunity to work with people, job
security, job availability and an opportunity to achieve leadership positions. According to G.
Ted Brown (1995), Canadian male occupational therapists indicated they were dissatisfied with
their work, pay, promotional opportunities, supervision and co-workers as a group. They
described their OT work environments being above average in terms of supervisor support,
autonomy and physical comfort (Brown, 1995). According to Christiansen (1970), males were
attracted to occupational therapy primarily by the salary levels offered. A significant factor in
male attrition rate in occupational therapy is due to the large percentage of therapists migrating
into administrative positions within or closely related to occupational therapy profession. Many
moved into these positions due to their view that the profession had limited opportunity for
advancement. Another reason males leave the profession is due to entering a traditional female
type job and facing many challenges such as role strain and low levels of pay (Christiansen,
1970).
In order to recruit and retain men in the profession, several factors need to be addressed.
First, males are often seen as muscle power to carry out heavy work or to restrain aggressive
patients. This is an example of inappropriate stereotyping. According to the NPR interview
(2010), a male patient might prefer another male to be in the bathroom when working on
toileting issues, simply because of dignity and privacy issues. There is an increase in demand for
Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 4
occupational therapists in recent years due to the growing number of baby boomers retiring.
According to the Labor Department, occupational therapy will grow 20 percent over the next few
years (Darden, 2010).
Second, sexism is a problem when an assumption is made that occupational therapists are
women, as in the use of she in occupational therapy articles to describe the therapist.
Improvements have been made over the years and the use of male leadership within the
profession has led to more retention of men in the profession (Readman, 1992).
Research Methods
Study Design and Subjects
This phenomenological study consisted of using a focus group to interview a convenience
sample of male students enrolled in the Touro University Occupational Therapy class of 2015.
The focus group was determined to be the best method to gather information about the research
questions from participants who chose to enter the OT career field. Since this type of
phenomenon cannot be observed, the research team decided to perform a focus group because it
would gather the information in a time efficient manner.
Nine male students were invited to participate in a focus group that took place during
lunch hour where pizza was provided to the participants. Seven open-ended questions were
presented to the group by one female interviewer. Three female transcribers recorded the
responses to the questions provided by focus group members. The interviewer asked one
question at a time to the group and encouraged all group members to participate in providing
answers. When some members would not answer, the interviewer tried to prompt answers from
each participant so that every interviewee had the opportunity to answer. The interviewer also
expanded on the question if the participants failed to understand the question or if the answers
Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 5
lead to other questions of interest to the study.

Role of Researcher
The researchers conducting the study are also part of the Touro University Nevada
Occupational Therapy Program Cohort 2015. Based on prior observations in a variety of
Occupational Therapy settings, it was noted that the profession was predominantly female.
Therefore this study was conducted to better understand the reason for males choosing to go into
this career field. Studies on this subject also reflected that 90% of Occupational Therapists in the
United States were female, leaving less than 10% of male Occupational Therapists (Hocevar,
2013).
Each male in the class was contacted by email and invited to participate in the study.
The participants either gave a verbal response to one of the researchers or replied back by email.
All 9 of the males in the Occupational Therapy Program Class of 2015 at Touro University
Nevada agreed to participate and all were present on the day of the interview. The data collected
during the focus group was only used to complete this study and the information was not
released to any person outside of the research team.
Data Collection
This qualitative study consisted of data gathered during a semi-structured focus group by
three note takers. The note takers also transcribed the interview notes. Notes contained
comments made by each participant along with observations. The data were collected at Touro
University Nevada in the occupational therapy department learning skills lab classroom. This
setting was selected since it was a large enough room to conduct the focus group with the 9
participants and 4 researchers. The focus group took approximately 45 minutes to collect the
necessary data about 2 hours and 15 minutes to transcribe the data received from the focus
Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 6
group. Member checking was used to enhance the rigor of the study meaning, the interviewer
summarized each of the participants answers during the focus group to ensure accuracy of the
data collected. This was done to ensure the validity, accuracy and credibility of the study. After
the focus group, researchers shared all data collected during the focus group to verify it was
transcribed correctly by the three note takers. Researchers which were also the transcribers, all
have CITI training and are graduate students in occupational therapy at Touro University
Nevada. All researchers displayed good listening skills, strong communication skills, and good
note taking strategies which established good rapport with the participants.
Focus Group Questions
The following questions were asked of participants during the focus group:
1. What made you choose a career field that was predominantly made up of women?
2. Do you work better with females or males? Why?
3. Do you think your gender will help in the occupational therapy field? Why?
4. What influenced you to become an occupational therapist?
5. Were you intimidated to become involved in a career predominated by females?
6. When you chose the field of OT, where you belittled by your friends, family, etc.
7. In what ways do you think you can be a better OT than a female?
These questions were asked to elicit more revealing information about the central
question of, Why do males choose a career field that is characteristically predominated by
females. These probing questions encouraged participants to reflect deeply on the main topic at
hand. The Interviewer summarized the major comments heard throughout the interview and
asked participants if all the major points were covered during the interview. Information was
compiled from the interview to ensure data collection quality, efficiency, and consistency
Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 7
occurred across participants. Data gathers took notes during the interview as well as directly
after.
Data Analysis
The researchers synthesized the data collected from the focus group and made a list of
recurrent themes that were mentioned several times throughout the interview. Major themes
were coded and categorized in order of importance. Similar themes were grouped together and
researches compiled a summary of facts from each theme.
After reviewing focus group interviews, four key themes were identified. These themes
were determined by how frequently they were discussed in the focus group. When discussing a
specific question, many participants agreed with other individuals statements; therefore
emerging themes were apparent.
Findings
Four predominant themes were identified in this qualitative study. The first theme
included male occupational therapists working better with male clients in physical settings.
Males may prefer other males in occupational therapy especially when it comes to more
physically demanding task such as transfers and activities for daily living (ADLs). The
participants agreed that they work better with males in general but do not necessarily prefer
working with one gender over the other. All participants also agreed that they relate better with
males than females when it comes to working with others in a career field. Male participants
expressed that they relate better with males because they share most of the same feelings and
thoughts towards life situations.
A second theme included choosing the field of occupational therapy for different reasons.
Participants stated they chose OT for a variety of reasons and were not turned off by the
Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 8
overwhelming number of females in the career field. They answered with a resounding No
when asked if they were intimidated to become involved in a career that is dominated by
females. One participant stated that he was drawn to OT after reading an article stating the
career was in need of more males. Many of them were interested in either physical or
occupational therapy and chose OT because of clinical observations; they enjoyed the holistic,
client centered approach the therapists gave their patients. A few of the participants stated they
had family members who benefited from OT and the positive experience lead to them choosing
the career field. Overall, it was established that the participants did not hesitate to become an OT
due to the female to male ratio in the career field.
A third theme that emerged amongst the participants was the community and family
support for men entering a female dominated career path. Only two out of the nine participants
stated that they were made fun of for choosing a female predominant career. One stated he was
made fun of by comparing him to a movie in which a male gets mocked because he is a male
nurse. The rest of the participants all received support from their family and friends. Another
participant stated that his friends and family did not know what occupational therapy entailed so
he was not ridiculed.
The final theme included males contributing their different strengths to the field of OT.
Males tend to gravitate towards research which will support the OT field in terms of evidence
based practice. The participants also indicated they want to occupy leadership roles within the
field of OT in many different clinical and educational settings. This theme corresponds to
findings by Christiansen (1970), which stated that males tend to move into more leadership roles
in research and education.
Discussion
Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 9
The purpose of this study was to identify specific trends regarding the males who entered
the occupational therapy cohort 2015. In regards to the research studies that have been
conducted in the 1980s and 1990s, the focus group identified some common themes that related
to the literature. First, males of cohort 2015 were attracted to occupational therapy for the
opportunities to work with people and job security. Over the past decade, the field of
occupational therapy has increased dramatically due to the increase of aging baby boomers, the
growing Veteran population, and higher salary. Second, this cohort cited the opportunity to
progress to leadership positions within the field. Previous research indicated that males tend to
progress to leadership positions such as researcher or supervisor. A few of the males in cohort
2015 indicated that their goal is to work in the field of research.
For future studies the researchers would recommend using other interview strategies
besides a focus group, such as one-on-one interviews or a questionnaire so that each individual
has a chance to answer questions individually and would not be overshadowed by other
interviewees. Interviewing other males from a variety of female dominated careers may also be
useful to make the study more generalizable to other career fields.
A key limitation of this study was interviewing the participants as a group instead of
individually. Several stated that they would have felt more comfortable being interviewed
individually instead of as a large group. They did not feel as though they could be truly open
when other males were around that could judge them. Others did not feel like they needed to
provide an answer to the question asked if someone had already given an answer, especially if
their answer was different than the one who initially spoke up.
The majority of the males in cohort 2015 stated they felt like they would have been even
more comfortable answering the questions on a form or questionnaire instead of being
Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 10
interviewed. This way they did not have to worry about their pride in how they were answering.
The fact that the interviewer and the three transcribers were all women interviewing men on a
gender specific topic also created feelings of not being able to be forthcoming. It is also
recommended if interviews are used, using a male interviewer would help the interviewees feel
more comfortable so that they can freely convey their ideas.
The setting of the focus group proved to be another limitation with this study. Initially
the focus group was scheduled to meet in study room so that it provided privacy to the
participants. However, the study rooms proved to be too small to hold the nine participants, the
interviewer, and the three transcribers. Therefore, it took place in an open classroom that several
female classmates were sitting in. This caused the participants to feel uncomfortable answering
questions that made them appear better adapted for the job of occupational therapy.
It was difficult trying to interview the participants as one whole group due to fact that
several of them did not seem to take it very seriously. There were several times they had to be
refocused on the interview. Many of them just wanted to eat the free pizza and to hurry through
the interview process so that they could work on other school projects they had coming due.
Triangulation or using questionnaires, interviews and observations should have been used
to collect the data to enhance the trustworthiness of findings. If all three methods were utilized it
would have presented the researchers with more data. The focus group dynamic prohibited
researchers from candidly discussing sensitive topics or getting the depth of information that we
needed. The group dynamic prevented some participants from voicing their opinions about
sensitive topics.
Conclusions
The findings of this study suggested that the males who chose a career in occupational
Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 11
therapy chose it because of the job itself and were not turned off by the predominantly female
field. All participants were drawn to the field because of the job inquiries and requirements and
none were focused on the high female-to-male ratio in the career field. In other words, it was
clear that this male cohort chose an OT career out of a personal passion for the job and they are
not discouraged by the stereotypical label of it being a woman's job.
Males entering female dominated careers can benefit the career field in a variety of ways
and should be supported by the community. Having male OTs is especially beneficial in the
healthcare system where men and women have different strengths and males can contribute to
making OT a more well-rounded career field. Occupational therapy can benefit from a more
diverse gender group of therapists to better provide for their clients.















Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PAPER 12
References
Brown, Ted. (1995). Male occupational therapists: a profile of job satisfaction and work
environment variables. Occupational Therapy International. 2, 128-147.

Christiansen, CH (1970). The male occupational therapist: Attitudes and trends. American
Journal of Occupational Therapy. 24: 513-14.

Darden, Jenee. (2010). National Public Radio; Wanted: Men for Occupational Therapy Jobs.
Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122970930.

Hocevar, Robin (2013). The Male Minority. Retrieved from:
http://occupational-therapy.advanceweb.com/Features/Articles/The-Male-Minority.aspx.

Lemkau, J.P. (1981). Increasing occupational role innovation: Intervention implications of two
survey studies. Paper presented at the 89
th
annual convention of the American
Psychological Association, Los Angeles, CA.

Readman, T. (1992). Recruitment of Men in Occupational Therapy: Past, Present and Future.
Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy. 59, 73.