Learning to “Deal” and “De‐escalate”: How Men in Nursing Manage Self and Patient Emotions

Abstract

While prior research has explored how gender frames emotion management processes, little work has specifically examined the links between men's emotion management in a caring profession and theory on masculine emotionality. Stereotyped as less sensitive to their own and others' emotions, male nurses confront unique challenges in navigating the profession's emotional demands. Drawing on men's diaries and interviews, I examine emergent emotion-based processes that characterize men's emotional labor-the strategies men use to manage their own and patient emotions on the job. In managing their own emotion, men's narratives reveal three distinct strategies: reframing the nurse role, distancing, and relinquishing situational control. In managing patient emotions, they frame control over their own emotions as a means for managing others and emphasize knowledge/education as a strategy for managing patient stress and anxiety. While both male and female nurses may engage these strategies, men's emotion management implicates the simultaneous reproduction and disruption of hegemonic masculinity and the reason/emotion dualisms that undergird the current gender system. Implications for masculinity and emotion management theory, as well as recruiting, training, and retaining male nurses are explored.

Theorizing emotional capital

“…Mason goes on to describe how men's touch can be potentially viewed as sexual and, as a result, men must express their care within the Bstrict parameters^of how others will interpret their actions. This limitation in comforting patients suggests that male nurses' emotion management strategies (Cottingham 2015) might be reframed as alternative ways of mobilizing emotional capital.…”

Caring moments and their men: masculine emotion practice in nursing

“…In past work, I have looked at men's emotional labor in nursing (Cottingham, 2015;Cottingham, Johnson, & Taylor, 2016), as well as how their narratives help us better conceptualize emotional capital (Cottingham, 2016). Turning to their narratives here, my aim is to understand how experiences-as situational encounters with evolving practical demands-can feed back into men's conception of masculinity.…”

Double- and Triple-Duty Caregiving Men: An Examination of Subjective Stress and Perceived Schedule Control

“…Men emulating a managerial caregiving style typically compartmentalize their family caregiver identity and do not allow it to permeate other roles, thereby reducing caregiving burden (Thompson, 2002). Given that professional caregiving men also use this approach (Cottingham, 2015), it is plausible that this caregiving style is more prevalent among double- and triple-duty caregiving men. Indeed, the Anjos et al (2012) study found that men typically assumed a managerial position within their familial care network.…”