An exploration into the emotional labour process in nursing

Project title:

An exploration into the emotional labour process in nursing: developing improvements for service delivery

Through a sociological lens…this project will explore the emotional labour experiences of nurses in light of institutional barriers.

Researcher:

Project proposal:

Despite increasing pressures, the British NHS continues to play a profound role in serving the general public by ensuring that the physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing of patients is taken care of. Doctors, nurses, allied healthcare professionals and several others combine their efforts to ensure that communities receive the support they need to maintain good health. Whilst reforms/policies, contractual disagreements and industrial conflicts have presented significant challenges to the healthcare workforce over the years, COVID19 has only exacerbated the conditions of healthcare work, with nurses placed at the sharp end of this aftermath. As research indicates, nurses are at risk of depressive symptoms, trauma/PTSD, and declining emotional wellbeing. For the very first time, nurses have even engaged in industrial strike action in relation to pay and poor working conditions. In addition, research indicates that challenging working conditions often lead to widespread issues of poor mental health and burnout amongst nursing professionals, with implications raised for service delivery, patient safety and capacities to offer quality care. With increasing demands to perform high-pressured work and offer routine compassion, there is an opportunity to develop research that can be used to examine lived experiences of key healthcare workers.

Photo by the University of Roehampton

Themes: