Abstract
All of the student nurses interviewed said that emotional labor and giving emotional support to patients was a central part of nursing work. Differences emerged between male and female nurse respondents in classroom discussions that revolved around gender stereotypes of general and mental health nursing in particular. As in a host of sociological and nursing studies, women seemed more likely to stress the importance of emotional care. Men tried to sustain a tough and masculine appearance of being in control of their feelings and the harsh medical realities of working in the health services (Duncombe and Marsden 1998; Arber and Gilbert 1989; Bendelow and Williams 1998; Bolton 2001, 2005; Gattuso and Bevan 2000; Leight 2002). Gendered images of nursing were noted by all of the student nurses. Images of nursing and emotion involved personal, social, and political choices, which were shaped throughout the 3 years of student nurse education by mentors, colleagues in ward placements, peers, and lecturers. As suggested in this and many other studies, transformational learning experiences helped student nurses to reflect on their emotions so that they could see the therapeutic value of emotional labor with the patient and sustain high quality of care in the health services (Hoover 2002; Ewers et al. 2002; Gillespie 2002; Morton-Cooper and Palmer 1999; Benner 1994; Smith and Gray 2001a, b; Gray and Smith 2000a, 2009; Gray 2009b).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Arber, S., & Gilbert, G. N. (1989). Men: The forgotten carers. Sociology, 23, 111–118.
Bendelow, G., & Williams, S. J. (Eds.). (1998). Emotions in social life: Critical themes and contemporary issues. London: Routledge.
Benner, P. (Ed.). (1994). Interpretive phenomenology. Embodiment, caring, and ethics in health and illness. London: Sage.
Benner, P. E., & Wrubel, J. (1989). The primacy of caring: Stress and coping in health and illness. Menlo Park: Addison-Wesley.
Bolton, S. (2001). Changing faces: Nurses as emotional jugglers. Sociology of Health & Illness, 23, 85–100.
Bolton, S. (2005). Women’s work, dirty work: The gynaecology nurse as ‘other’. Gender, Work and Organization, 12, 169–186.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (1992). The logic of practice. Cambridge: Polity.
Bourdieu, P. (1993). The field of cultural production. Cambridge: Polity.
Cheahy, P. P., Berck, C. B., & Achber, L. C. (1995). Therapeutic management of helping boundaries. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, 33(1), 40–47.
Cotton, A. H. (2001). Private thoughts in public spheres: Issues in reflection and reflective practices in nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 36, 512–519.
Cronin, C. (2001). How do nurses deal with their emotions on a burn unit? Hermeneutic inquiry. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 7, 342–348.
Darling, L. A. (1986). What to do about toxic mentors. Nurse Educator, 11, 29–30.
Davies, C. (1995a). Gender and the professional predicament of nursing. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Davies, C. (1995b). Competence versus care? Gender and caring work revisited. Acta Sociologica, 38, 17–31.
Drach-Zahavy, A., & Dagan, E. (2002). From caring to managing and beyond: An examination of the head nurse’s role. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 38, 19–28.
Duncombe, J., & Marsden, D. (1998). Stepford wives and hollow men? Doing emotion work, doing gender and authenticity in intimate heterosexual relationships. In G. Bendelow & S. J. Williams (Eds.), Emotions in social life: Critical themes & contemporary issues (pp. 211–227). London: Routledge.
Egan, G. (1990). The skilled helper: A systematic approach to effective helping. California: Brooks Cole Company.
Elias, N. (1991). On human beings and their emotions: A process-sociological essay. In M. Featherstone, M. Hepworth, & B. Turner (Eds.), The body: Social process and cultural theory (pp. 103–125). London: Sage.
Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. (1999). Bringing emotion and personal narrative into medical social science. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 3, 229–237.
Ewers, P., Bradshaw, T., McGovern, J., & Ewers, B. (2002). Does training in psychosocial interventions reduce burnout rates in forensic nurses? Journal of Advanced Nursing, 37, 470–477.
Fineman, S. (Ed.). (1993). Emotion in organizations. London: Sage.
Forrest, D. (1989). The experience of caring. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 14, 815–823.
Foucault, M. (1973). The birth of the clinic: An archaeology of medical perception. New York: Pantheon.
Foucault, M. (1990). History of sexuality (Vol. 1). Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Fretwell, J. E. (1982). Ward teaching and learning: Sister and the learning environment. London: Royal College of Nursing.
Froggatt, K. (1998). The place of metaphor and language in exploring nurses emotional work. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28, 332–338.
Gattuso, S., & Bevan, C. (2000). Mother, daughter, patient, nurse: Women’s emotion work in aged care. Health and Social Care in the Community, 31, 892–899.
Gilbert, T. (2001). Reflective practice and clinical supervision: Meticulous rituals of the confessional. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 36, 199–206.
Gillespie, M. (2002). Student-teacher connection in clinical nursing education. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 37, 566–577.
Gray, B. (2009b). The emotional labour of nursing: Defining and managing emotions in nursing work. Nurse Education Today, 29, 168–175.
Gray, B. (2010). Emotional labour, gender and professional stereotypes of emotional and physical contact, and personal perspectives on the emotional labour of nursing. Journal of Gender Studies, 19, 349–360.
Gray, B., & Smith, P. (2000a). An emotive subject: Nurses’ feelings. Nursing Times, 96, 29–31.
Gray, B., & Smith, P. (2009). Emotional labour and the clinical settings of nursing care: The perspectives of nurses in East London (United Kingdom – UK). Nurse Education in Practice, 9, 253–261.
Hochschild, A. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules and social structure. American Journal of Sociology, 85, 551–575.
Hochschild, A. (1983). The managed heart. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hoover, J. (2002). The personal and professional impact of undertaking an educational module on human caring. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 37, 79–87.
James, N. (1989). Emotional labour: Skill and work in the social regulation of feelings. Sociological Review, 37, 15–42.
James, N. (1993a). Divisions of emotional labour: Disclosure and cancer. In S. Fineman (Ed.), Emotion in organizations (pp. 94–117). London: Sage.
James, N. (1993b). Care, work and carework: A synthesis? In J. Robinson, A. Gray, & R. Elkan (Eds.), Policy issues in nursing (pp. 96–111). Buckingham: Open University Press.
Kolb, D. A., & Fry, R. (1975). Towards an applied theory of experiential learning. In G. L. Cooper (Ed.), Theories of group processes (pp. 33–57). Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.
Leight, S. B. (2002). Starry night: Using story to inform aesthetic knowing in women’s health nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 37, 108–155.
Lupton, D. (1998). The emotional self. London: Sage.
Marquis, B., & Huston, C. (1992). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott.
Morton-Cooper, A., & Palmer, A. (1999). Mentoring, preceptorship and clinical supervision: A guide to professional roles in clinical practice. Oxford: Blackwell Science.
Oatley, K., & Johnson, L. P. (1987). Towards a cognitive theory of emotions. Cognition and Emotions, 1, 29–50.
Ogier, M. (1982). An ideal sister. London: Royal College of Nursing.
Orton, H. D. (1981). Learning climate: A study of the role of the ward sister in relation to student nurse learning in the ward. London: Royal College of Nursing.
Phillips, S. (1996). Labouring the emotions: Expanding the remit of nursing work? Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24, 139–143.
Ramage C. (2000), The Experiences of Link Teachers in Clinical Nursing Practice: A Grounded Theory Study. Unpublished PhD Thesis. South Bank University, London.
RCN. (1997). RCN ward nursing leadership project – A journey to patient centred leadership. London: Royal College of Nursing.
RCN. (1998). Royal college of nursing leadership programme – Clinical leadership development programme: Phase 2. London: Royal College of Nursing.
RCN. (2000). Outline for general paper on 1st phase of clinical leadership programme. London: Royal College of Nursing.
Revans, R. (1980). Action learning: New techniques for management. London: Blond and Briggs.
Revans, R. (1997). Action learning: Its origins and nature. In M. Pedler (Ed.), Action learning in practice (pp. 3–14). Brookfield, VT: Gower.
Sandall, J. (1997). Midwives burnout and continuity of care. British Journal of Midwifery, 5, 106–111.
Schon, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Scott, P. A. (2000). Emotion, moral perception, and nursing practice. Nursing Philosophy, 1, 123–133.
Smith, P. (1992). The emotional labour of nursing. London: Macmillan.
Smith, P. (1999a). Logging emotions: A logbook of personal reflections. Soundings, 11, 128–138.
Smith, S. (1999b). Arlie Hochschild: Soft-spoken conservationist of emotions: Review and assessment of Arlie Hochschild’s work. Soundings, 11, 120–127.
Smith, P., Barnes, S., & Jennings, P. (1998). The secret ingredient. The Nursing Times, 94, 32.
Smith, P., & Gray, B. (2001a). Emotional labour of nursing revisited: Caring and learning 2000. Nurse Education in Practice, 1, 42–49.
Smith, P., & Gray, B. (2001b). Reassessing the concept of emotional labour in student nurse education: Role of link lecturers and mentors in a time of change. Nurse Education Today, 21, 230–237.
Staden, H. (1998). Alertness to the needs of others: A study of the emotional labour of caring. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 27, 147–156.
Tolich, M. (1993). Alienating and liberating emotions at work. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 22, 61–381.
Wharton, A. S. (1993). The affective consequences of service work: Managing emotions on the job. Work and Occupations, 20, 205–232.
Williams, S. (1999). Student carers: Learning to manage emotions. Soundings, 11, 180–186.
Wilson A. J. (1998) A Place for Learning: A Study of How Nursing Students Learn and are supported While on Clinical Placements. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gray, B. (2012). Learning to Care in Student Nursing. In: Face to Face with Emotions in Health and Social Care. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3402-3_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3402-3_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-3401-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-3402-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)