Liminality in preregistration mental health nurse education: A review of the literature

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of the anthropological concept of liminality in relation to undergraduate preregistration mental health nurse education, and considers implications both for students and nurse educators working in this field.A review of educational and professional literature was undertaken in order to clarify the concept of liminality within the context of nurse education to aid in understanding how nurse educators could maximise the potential of liminality within the mental health pre registration nursing programme, and to consider the relationship between liminality and the preparation of future mental health nursing practitioners.A survey of the findings and conclusions of the selected studies yielded two key areas in which the concept has an explanatory function: in relation to "threshold concepts" in nurse education and as a way of describing a stage in the development of a role and identity.Discussion of each of these areas points to suggestions for changes in the understanding of education and training for mental health nurses, particularly in the context of the United Kingdom.

Newly graduated nurses’ use of knowledge sources: a meta‐ethnography

“…Being liminal refers to being in between, feeling uncertain, invisible or not knowing one's own identity (Blows et al . , Evans & Kevern ). One is not a student nurse any longer and does not feel as a proper nurse either.…”

“…In a transition theoretical perspective, the doing and following behaviour, which we found typical during the initial months, would be elucidated as being in 'liminality' (Turner 1977). Being liminal refers to being in between, feeling uncertain, invisible or not knowing one's own identity (Blows et al 2012, Evans & Kevern 2015. One is not a student nurse any longer and does not feel as a proper nurse either.…”

Crisis and continuity: Rural health care students respond to the COVID-19 outbreak

“…For our participants, the pandemic quarantine has resulted in a state of prolonged liminality, with no clear resolution in sight. Evans and Kevern (2015) note that degree programs in the health sciences—and especially clinical placements—are liminal spaces wherein students transit between one identity and another. “Socialisation into a professional role is itself a rite of passage and includes a period of personal challenge, uncertainty and adjustment,” the authors observe, moreover raising concerns regarding “the personal cost of this process for the student, and also the risk that they might avoid the challenge by dropping out; by retreating into the communitas of the student group; or by ‘going through the motions’ without properly internalizing the role they are required to adopt” (p. 5).…”

Aspectos conceituais teóricos e subjetivos da sobrevivência ao câncer: contribuições para a enfermagem oncológica

“…A toda essa complexidade do PS, delimitamos, durante a análise indutiva, o atributo processo de liminaridade (PL). Este é um conceito antropológico contextualizado em diferentes perspectivas e bastante abordado nos estudos com doenças crônicas, por exemplo, com pacientes com esquizofrenia, artrite, fadiga crônica e encefalomielite miálgica, na saúde mental, com cuidadores de pacientes com doença crônica, HIV/AIDS, doença crônica renal, dentre outros, sempre se reportando à liminaridade como a ambiguidade de ser ou estar entre algo (MURPHY et al,1988;PINDER, 1995;GIBBONS;ROSS;BEVANS, 2014;BRUCE et al, 2014;KEVERN, 2015;NORDBERG, 2015;BROWN;HUSZAR;CHAPMAN, 2017). No contexto do câncer, diversos autores têm se debruçado em estudá-lo (NAVON;MORAG, 2004;BLOWS et al, 2012;BRUCE et al, 2014;ADORNO, 2015; TRUSSON; PILNICK, ROY, 2016) e, ao longo do tempo, diferentes definições já foram delineadas.…”

“…O termo é usado por sociólogos e antropólogos no intuito de denotar fenômenos que não se encaixam nas categorias que as pessoas decretam como socialmente construídas, não sentindo nem uma coisa ou outra, mas talvez ambas (TURNER, 1967). Ainda Turner (1969) pontuou que as pessoas ou entidades liminares escorregam por meio de uma rede de classificações que normalmente se localizam em posições dentro de uma cultura; assim, a pessoa ou a entidade liminar se sente em um lugar entre as duas coisas, onde o status ou a posição do indivíduo é ambíguo e incerto entre as posições já culturalmente atribuídas e organizadas (JACKSON, 2005;BLOWS et al, 2012;KEVERN, 2015 (LITTLE et al, 1998). A doença passou a ser um evento que expõe o sujeito à morte, confrontando o seu próprio significado perante os valores sustentados pela sociedade; isso o coloca em um estado de liminaridade, em um estágio de reflexão e reformulação de antigos elementos com novos padrões (TURNER 1967;LITTLE et al, 1998;BLOWS et al, 2012).…”