The meaning of emotion work to student nurses: A Heideggerian analysis

BackgroundProviding patients with emotional support can be challenging to student nurses, as it is seen as a less tangible aspect of care when compared to other acts of caring.ObjectivesThe underpinning objective of this study was to explore the meaning of emotional relationships between pre-registration nursing students and patients admitted to a clinical setting in the United Kingdom.DesignUsing an interpretive phenomenological approach data were collected using in depth unstructured interviews, with nine purposively recruited pre-registration student nurses at a University in the United Kingdom.ResultsThe structure of emotion work for these nurses, was found to consist of three constituents; (a) the need for an emotional “balance;” (b) feeling the need to cry; (c) feeling the need to talk. We portray this phenomenon as “emotional nurse being” using Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenology.ConclusionsThe insights gained from this study could be used to understand and support pre-registration student nurses in this aspect of their practice.