Discourse analysis is a relatively recent form of inquiry without a strict step-by-step method. The methodology of discourse analysis has a longer history in Continental Europe than in other countries. The complex theoretical assumptions, the goals and the target (discourse) have been explicated, but the methodology may be applied in different ways. This paper will describe discourse analysis and give examples of some of the possible variations. It is the claim of this paper that discourse analysis deserves consideration as a methodology for nursing inquiry.

This article argues that the concept of empowerment has been co-opted by health professionals and redefined as an intervention to produce compliance. Patients are considered empowered by health professionals only if they make the correct choices as defined by the health care provider. Patients are not informed about all possible choices and are not free to make their own choices for their own reasons. Empowerment is a coercive strategy that is justified by its outcomes and creates dependent populations.

The author presents a discourse analysis in three sections: a genealogy, a structural discourse analysis, and a power analytic. She concludes that the discourse of nursing diagnosis sustains conditions of social domination, limits autonomy and responsibility, and oppresses individuals and groups. The discourse of nursing diagnosis restricts what counts as evidence and limits acceptable input of voices, thus excluding, for example, the voices of the patient and his or herfamily. The discourse of nursing diagnosis appeals to the dominance of empirical analytic science and equates this dominance with professional social status. The author discusses potential discourses of resistance that provide speaking positions from which to articulate specific practices that resist oppressive effects of nursing diagnosis.

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A survey of RNs in South Dakota was performed to determine their perceived level of competence, the extent to which their continuing nursing education (CNE) needs are being met, and their use of computers for CNE. Nationally certified nurses rated themselves significantly more competent than nurses who are not nationally certified. Fewer than half of the RNs reported their CNE needs were being met despite geographic access to CNE and programs available in their specialty. Three-fourths of nurses had computers at home while 76% had computers at work, yet fewer than 20% of nurses used these computers for CNE.