“I Can Never Be Too Comfortable”: Race, Gender, and Emotion at the Hospital Bedside

Abstract

In this article, we examine how race and gender shape nurses’ emotion practice. Based on audio diaries collected from 48 nurses within two Midwestern hospital systems in the United States, we illustrate the disproportionate emotional labor that emerges among women nurses of color in the white institutional space of American health care. In this environment, women of color experience an emotional double shift as a result of negotiating patient, coworker, and supervisor interactions. In confronting racist encounters, nurses of color in our sample experience additional job-related stress, must perform disproportionate amounts of emotional labor, and experience depleted emotional resources that negatively influence patient care. Methodologically, the study extends prior research by using audio diaries collected from a racially diverse sample to capture emotion as a situationally emergent and complex feature of nursing practice. We also extend research on nursing by tracing both the sources and consequences of unequal emotion practices for nurse well-being and patient care.

Capturing emotion with audio diaries

“…Our experience with audio diaries parallels that of Theodosius (2006: 901), in that the use of diaries prompted 'more personal disclosure of private emotions and feelings' than might be possible with other methods (see also Brennan et al, 2010). We saw this in the experiences of racism reported by the nurses of color in our sample (a more thorough discussion of this theme is taken up in Cottingham et al 2018. Racism operates through overt racist aggression as well more subtle forms of microaggression (Sue, 2010).…”

“…Visually, we can see that the segment ends with longer pauses, muted remarks, and sighs, suggesting low energy and visually representing the drained feelings she expresses, particularly in comparison to the lively energy seen in the first figure when she discusses feeling angry. More on Tamara's experience can be found in Cottingham et al (2018).…”

The Constant Caregiver: Work–family Spillover among Men and Women in Nursing

“…Coming home after work, she was unable to activate more compassion for her sister and as a result felt 'crappy, guilty'. Tamara was one of 10 nurses of colour in the sample and, perhaps not surprisingly, she also reported race-related prejudice on the job earlier in her diary entries (see Cottingham et al, 2018). After a day of not only caring for others, but also caring for others in the face of racial prejudice, she was completely exhausted.…”

The missing and needed male nurse: Discursive hybridization in professional nursing texts

“…Additionally, men can experience other benefits on the job, including being shielded from some of the emotional demands of nursing or experiencing increased job satisfaction when they do engage in emotional labour (Cottingham et al, ). Finally, qualitative studies have highlighted the advantages that men experience in patient and co‐worker interactions when they are presumed to be competent and are granted respect and authority more easily than their female colleagues (Cottingham, Johnson, & Erickson, ).…”