Purpose: Based on focus groups, we analyse how practical nursing students deal with being as smokers and future healthcare workers. The way they justify their smoking is discussed within a group of peers.
Methods: The study has a qualitative design with an inductive approach using focus group interviews (FGIs) for data collection. A total of 29 students were interviewed in five groups of five and one group of four participants.
Results: In the analysis, we found four different discursive practices the students utilized for rationalizing their own smoking and coping with the moral dilemma of smoking in a context of health care where smoking is forbidden: (1) students normalized smoking with references to its prevalence within their social circles, (2) the students asserted that their smoking was under control, (3) students considered themselves responsible smokers, and (4) students identified smoking as a part of their identity.
Conclusion: Training should support the growth of professional identity and address the smoker's identity right from the start of education. Smokers need special attention in the formulation of professional identity, however, without being stigmatized any further.
Keywords: Focus group interview; Normalization; practical nurse; smoker identity; smoking; views; vocational school.