I am only a nurse: a biographical narrative study of a nurse’s self-understanding and its implication for practice

Abstract

BackgroundThe personal is a vital part of professional nursing practice. From a psycho-social perspective, nurses produce and reproduce conceptions of the Self through experience. A literature search on nurses’ self-understanding in a psycho-social perspective yields no results. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate personal and professional experiences that may have formed the self-understanding of a nurse, and how this self-understanding may have influenced her professional practice.MethodsUsing a single case approach, I conducted a Biographical Narrative Interview with a 50-year-old experienced Norwegian nurse. I asked the nurse to tell me the story of her life and how her work has affected her and possibly changed the way she saw herself. The overall aim of the interpretation was to understand the historically situated subjectivity in terms of the nurse’s personal, social and professional constraints and chosen options.ResultsThe nurse’s narrative of her life story made it possible to trace a common theme throughout her experiences, the experience of being “only a nurse”. The nurse experienced a low status, as well as a downgrade in the competence needed to deliver quality care in professional relationships. She felt it difficult to identify with the experience of being on the bottom of the social ladder and to identify with the female, mothering ideal connected to nursing. She desired a better position, and wanted to identify with strong women. In contrast to reality, her self-understanding influenced her relationship with her patients, her professional pride and her further professional development.ConclusionsThis study shows that the professional practice of a nurse was informed by her self-understanding. This study suggests that the individual nurse must be given the opportunity to explore her professional vulnerability based on the assumption that it is both personally and socially constituted. This study indicates that the exploration of a nurse’s self-understanding is one way to contribute to professional development.

Self‐awareness in nursing: A scoping review

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“…() noted that acknowledging one's personal values could serve as an antecedent to engage in self‐awareness. Recognition of one's personal values could involve identifying one's historical, cultural and social understanding of oneself and one's family values (Eckroth‐Bucher, ; Ramvi, ), and identifying one's meaningful life patterns (Ramvi, ; Vandemark, ). Reflection and introspection, although noted as the strategies to develop self‐awareness, are also considered antecedents of self‐awareness (Gessler & Ferron, ; Severinsson, ; Table ).…”

Psychological outcomes of life story work for community‐dwelling seniors: A randomised controlled trial

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A Socialização Profissional No Percurso De Técnico a Enfermeiro

“…A construção presente do profissional é, em parte, decorrente do sistema educacional, em que o ritmo, o modo e a caracterização decorrem em conformidade com a aquisição de conhecimentos inerentes à sua nova identidade profissional (Ramvi, 2015). Geralmente, os concluintes conseguem diferenciar das outras classes profissionais as atribuições dos enfermeiros (Oliveira, Lima e Baluta, 2016).…”