Who cares? Offering emotion work as a ‘gift’ in the nursing labour process

Abstract

Who cares? Offering emotion work as a 'gift' in the nursing labour process The emotional elements of the nursing labour process are being recognized increasingly. Many commentators stress that nurses' 'emotional labour' is hard and productive work and should be valued in the same way as physical or technical labour. However, the term 'emotional labour' fails to conceptualize the many occasions when nurses not only work hard on their emotions in order to present the detached face of a professional carer, but also to offer authentic caring behaviour to patients in their care. Using qualitative data collected from a group of gynaecology nurses in an English National Health Service (NHS) Trust hospital, this paper argues that nursing work is emotionally complex and may be better understood by utilizing a combination of Hochschild's concepts: emotion work as a 'gift' in addition to 'emotional labour'. The gynaecology nurses in this study describe their work as 'emotionful' and therefore it could be said that this particular group of nurses represent a distinct example. Nevertheless, though it is impossible to generalize from limited data, the research presented in this paper does highlight the emotional complexity of the nursing labour process, expands the current conceptual analysis, and offers a path for future research. The examination further emphasizes the need to understand and value the motivations behind nurses' emotion work and their wish to maintain caring as a central value in professional nursing.

Positive benefits of caring on nurses’ motivation and well-being: A diary study about the role of emotional regulation abilities at work

“…Nurses' motivation could be deeply connected with the meaning that they give to their work and with certain job demands from the health field (Edgar, 1998). These demands are in many cases the relationships with patients which can be perceived by nurses like a "gift" (Bolton, 2000). In their study among student nurses, McCabe et al (2005), found that the most important reasons to choose the profession were (1) to help others; (2) to do interesting and challenging work; and (3) to work closely with people in need.…”

Negotiating the Normal Birth : Norms and Emotions in Midwifery Education

“…They have shown that controlling one's emotions is central to caring jobs such as nursing and midwifery. A competent practitioner is able to carry out the work without becoming too emotionally involved with the patients, to uphold a professional approach and to support patients (see Bolton 2000;Fineman 2005;Hunter 2001;James 1992;Smith 1998). In her study of gynecology nurses, Sharon C. Bolton sees their work as "maintaining the professional face" which means that they learn to "mask" their own feelings in order to be able to emotionally support the patients (2000: 584).…”

“…Bolton 2000, Fineman 2005, Hunter 2001, Sturdy 2003, Thoits 1989. They have shown that controlling one's emotions is central to caring jobs such as nursing and midwifery.…”

“…Martin [1987, Sandell 2001, about norms of feelings in the work role (e.g. Bolton 2000, Hochschild [1983 2012), and how categorization work/prognostication that professionals must learn in order to handle complex situations (e.g. Mesman 2005, Mäkitalo 2012, Strauss 1978, 1985 can be understood and negotiated.…”

Participatory Evaluation: Navigating the Emotions of Partnerships

“…Further studies have explored the emotional component of public sector "care workers" including nurses (Smith 1992, James 1993, Bolton 2000, the complex relationships between individual practitioners and organisations associated with the development of new nursing roles (Franks and Smith, 2002)) social workers (Aldridge 1994) and midwives (Hunter 2004). Few studies have described the emotional labour associated with inner city regeneration work and the conditions required to sustain it (see for example Froggett and Chamberlayne 2004).…”