Rethinking shiftwork: mid‐life nurses making it work!

Abstract

Many current analyses of shiftwork neglect nurses' own voices when describing the dis/advantages of a shiftworking lifestyle. This paper reports the findings of a critical re-analysis of two studies conducted with female mid-life Australian nurses to explore the contention that the 'problem-centred' focus of current shiftwork research does not effectively address the 'real' issue for mid-life nurses, that is, how to develop and maintain shiftwork tolerance. Participants used shiftwork to: (i) manage, navigate and negotiate various aspects of their nursing work and the workplace itself; (ii) facilitate more manageable work/life negotiations; and (iii) self-identify opportunities to engage in their own self-care (body work and mind work). The findings thus went beyond simply exposing what nursing bodies do in time and space by bringing to the fore discussions of 'time-body' relationships, the embodiment of time and nurses re/configuration of that time demonstrating that the frequently unacknowledged positive aspects of shiftwork, when centred in discussions, give voice to other ways to think about shiftwork and a shiftworking lifestyle. Thus, our contention is that the 'problem-centred' focus of current shiftwork debates does little to address the 'real' issue for shiftworking mid-life female nurses - the development and maintenance of shiftwork tolerance.

Conceptualizing nurses' night work: an inductive content analysis

“…When contrasted, the areas of advantage and disadvantage expose how nurses ‘make it work’ again (West et al . ). In other words, when it is within their powers to do so, nurses make conscious decisions to use what works for them and for the organizations where they work.…”

Impacts of shift work: A study in textile companies in Portugal

“…more free time during the daytime period) Also, the advantages have been reported in the family dynamics (e.g. greater participation by the father in the education of the children) (Barnett and Gareis, 2007;Silva, 2012;West et al, 2012). In terms of negative impacts, these have also been associated with family and social life (e.g.…”

Work-life balance and family friendly policies

“…Shiftwork is observed to both support and impede workers' capacity to manage work and care (Maher et al 2010;Nowak et al 2013;West et al 2012). Lindsay et al (2009) and Skinner et al (2011b) note that shiftwork can enable nurses to effectively coordinate care and domestic work with their partners, with casual shiftwork offering the greatest capacity to choose suitable shift schedules.…”

“…Six of these were from international research, including longitudinal and intervention studies (Barnett and Garies 2002;Barnett et al 2008;Bailyn et al 2007;Mauno 2010;Nabe-Neilson et al 2011;Pryce et al 2006), and one study was an international comparison of Australia and Canada (Baines 2011). Seven of these studies were qualitative (Baines 2011; Lindsay et al 2009;Maher et al 2010;Skinner et al 2011b;2013b;Soma et al 2012;West et al 2012) and three had mixed-method approaches (Bailyn et al 2007;Nowark et al 2013;Pryce et al 2011) (Table 2). …”