Changing faces: nurses as emotional jugglers

Abstract

Nursing has long been distinguished as an occupation requiring extensive amounts of`emotion work'. Various studies highlight the importance of a nurse's ability to manage emotion and present the desired demeanour in a number of health care settings. This paper adds to the existing understanding of the emotional elements of nursing work and proposes that Goffman's (1959Goffman's ( , 1961Goffman's ( , 1967) insights into thè presentation of self' may be a useful approach to recognising a nurse's ability to present many`faces'. Set against the backdrop of structural changes affecting the British public sector services, and using qualitative data collected from a group of nurses working in a National Health Service trust hospital, it will be shown how nurses are able to juggle the emotional demands made of them whilst still presenting an acceptable face.

Emotional Labour in University Lecturers: Considerations for Higher Education Institutions

“…Findings showed that university lecturers reported significantly higher levels of emotional labour compared to those occupations represented in the published norms. This is particularly revealing when it is considered that nursing is perhaps one of the occupations most commonly associated with extensive emotional work (Bolton, 2001) and a highly stressful work environment (Humpel & Caputi, 2001). The distribution of emotional labour scores for university lecturers indicated that university lecturers most frequently reported 'high' levels of emotional labour compared to 'moderate' levels most frequently reported by other occupations.…”

Organisational support for nurses in acute care settings: a rapid evidence review

“…Emotion is central to nursing care and its importance is acknowledged in the discipline, [14][15][16] however, the extent to which organisational systems and processes reflect this importance is less clear. Also despite the utility of the concept in surfacing the labour involved in emotion work it is also, somewhat paradoxically, rendered invisible, is not managed, and the emotional dissonance caused by the constant suppression of powerful emotions can lead to burnout.…”

“…Emotion is central to nursing care and its importance is recognised in the discipline, [14][15][16] and it is now also being acknowledged more widely. [17] Caring involves emotional labour, which is the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display [18] which over time can exert a toll on staff resulting in distress if appropriate support is not available.…”

Childhood, Emotions and the Labour of Transnational Families

“…In this respect it is useful to consider Bolt (2001) who addresses emotional labour performed by nurses. Bolt (2001) draws from Goffman's 'presentations of the self' thesis to illustrate the many faces nurses have and how they present their competency as social actors performing in 'situated activity' (Bolt 2001, p. 87-88). In doing so Bolt underlines a related concept from Goffman, of the competent actor which 'provides the necessary 'conceptual connecting tissues' between the private and public worlds of emotion management and emphasising actors' multiple identities' (Bolt 2001, p. 88).…”