Kirsten Jack1, Christopher Wibberley2. 1. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom. Electronic address: k.jack@mmu.ac.uk. 2. Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Providing patients with emotional support can be challenging to student nurses, as it is seen as a less tangible aspect of care when compared to other acts of caring. OBJECTIVES: The underpinning objective of this study was to explore the meaning of emotional relationships between pre-registration nursing students and patients admitted to a clinical setting in the United Kingdom. DESIGN: Using an interpretive phenomenological approach data were collected using in depth unstructured interviews, with nine purposively recruited pre-registration student nurses at a University in the United Kingdom. RESULTS: The structure of emotion work for these nurses, was found to consist of three constituents; (a) the need for an emotional "balance;" (b) feeling the need to cry; (c) feeling the need to talk. We portray this phenomenon as "emotional nurse being" using Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenology. CONCLUSIONS: The insights gained from this study could be used to understand and support pre-registration student nurses in this aspect of their practice.
BACKGROUND: Providing patients with emotional support can be challenging to student nurses, as it is seen as a less tangible aspect of care when compared to other acts of caring. OBJECTIVES: The underpinning objective of this study was to explore the meaning of emotional relationships between pre-registration nursing students and patients admitted to a clinical setting in the United Kingdom. DESIGN: Using an interpretive phenomenological approach data were collected using in depth unstructured interviews, with nine purposively recruited pre-registration student nurses at a University in the United Kingdom. RESULTS: The structure of emotion work for these nurses, was found to consist of three constituents; (a) the need for an emotional "balance;" (b) feeling the need to cry; (c) feeling the need to talk. We portray this phenomenon as "emotional nurse being" using Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenology. CONCLUSIONS: The insights gained from this study could be used to understand and support pre-registration student nurses in this aspect of their practice.