A nursing career in mental health care: choices and motives of nursing students.

Purpose: This article describes the results of a study into how first-year nursing students' perceptions of psychiatric patients and mental health care influence their choice of specialization in mental health care and future working in this sector.

Method: A descriptive qualitative study design with semi-structured interviews. Respondents were selected through purposive sampling among all first-year bachelor students attending a Dutch school of nursing.