Correctional nursing practice.

This study explored the nature and problems of nursing practice in correctional settings using qualitative field research methodology. Data were collected through participant observation at three men's state prisons and one city jail and included informal interviews and conversations of varying length and depth with 40 nursing staff members. Data analysis was accomplished through the constant comparative methodology and dimension analysis of grounded theory. Custody personnel's recognition, evaluation, and acceptance of judicially mandated health care varied across settings and formed a toleration continuum with two types (contentious and considered) located at polar ends and a third (acknowledged) in a central position. Correctional nurses' conceptions of nursing were categorized as limited, expanded, or other-directed. The three types of toleration provided differing contexts for correctional nursing practice. Interactions between custody and health care staff occurring within each toleration scene differentially influenced the degree to which the three conceptions of nursing prevailed.