Background. Nurses’ inter- and intra-disciplinary relationships are frequently interpreted as oppressed group behaviours, contributing to their relatively dis-empowered status. In the context of restructuring in health care, this study examined the views of hospital staff nurses about their relationships with nursing colleagues and other health care professionals and their ideas for change.

Aim.  The aim of this paper is to report a study to add the views of staff nurses to the discourse on restructuring and to make visible the processes that contribute to their marginalization.

Design.  The study was descriptive and exploratory. Staff nurses from various hospitals in a large Canadian city were selected by theoretical sampling.

Method.  Twenty volunteer staff nurses were interviewed between 1998 and 1999, using broad, open-ended questions and prompts to explore nurses’ various relationships in the health care system. This approach allowed for multiple responses and expansions of ideas, without losing focus. The interviews were audio-taped and later transcribed. Thematic analysis was carried out.

Findings.  Many participants were aware of inter-disciplinary hierarchies, particularly between nurses and physicians. Many also showed insights into their own intra-disciplinary hierarchies and mutual non-supportiveness. Both types of relationships were found to be inextricably linked, sustaining nurses’ oppression through dis-empowering discourses. Nurses expressed many ideas about how to promote mutually supportive relationships.

Conclusion.  Change for the better needs to come from within the nursing profession. To develop effective strategies, bedside nurses have to be included in decision-making processes affecting them and their practice, about which they are the experts. Mutual respect, awareness-raising through education, development of caring nursing communities, mentorship and non-hierarchical leadership are key to stopping dis-empowering discourses and practices amongst nurses.

Changing nurses’ dis‐empowering relationship patterns

This is "must" reading for anyone teaching nursing, at any level, in any program or institution. This book covers trends and innovative strategies to help you develop a curriculum and be more effective in using it. Educators describe problems - such as students who cannot write or high NCLEX failure rates - and how they tackled and solved them. Each chapter contains common-sense approaches to every educator's questions. It is a resource no nursing education program can afford to be without.

Annual review of nursing education

Background: Technology-assisted clinical interventions are increasingly common in the health care field, often with the proposed aim to improve access to and cost-effectiveness of care. Current technology platforms delivering interventions are largely mobile apps and online websites, although efforts have been made to create more personalized and embodied technology experiences. To extend and improve on these platforms, the field of robotics has been increasingly included in conversations of how to deliver technology-assisted, interactive, and responsive mental health and psychological well-being interventions. Socially assistive robots (SARs) are robotic technology platforms with audio, visual, and movement capabilities that are being developed to interact with individuals socially while also assisting them with management of their physical and psychological well-being. However, little is known about the empirical evidence or utility of using SARs in mental health interventions. Objective: The review synthesizes and describes the nascent empirical literature of SARs in mental health research and identifies strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement in future research and practice. Methods: Searches in Medline, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, PubMed, and IEEE Xplore yielded 12 studies included in the final review after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. Abstract and full-text reviews were conducted by two authors independently. Results: This systematic review of the literature found 5 distinct SARs used in research to investigate the potential for this technology to address mental health and psychological well-being outcomes. Research on mental health applications of SARs focuses largely on elderly dementia patients and relies on usability pilot data with methodological limitations. Conclusions: The current SARs research in mental health use is limited in generalizability, scope, and measurement of psychological outcomes. Opportunities for expansion of research in this area include diversifying populations studied, SARs used, clinical applications, measures used, and settings for those applications.

/pdf/use-of-social-robots-in-mental-health-and-well-being-1hezvpl6l1.pdf

Use of Social Robots in Mental Health and Well-Being Research: Systematic Review.

Undergraduate nursing students' experience related to their clinical learning environment and factors affecting to their clinical learning process

https://www.collegianjournal.com/article/S1322-7696(15)00116-X/pdf

Australian nursing students’ experience of bullying and/or harassment during clinical placement

Although a limited number of studies have focused on bullying in nursing education to date, all of those studies demonstrate the existence of bullying in clinical settings, where nursing students undertake a significant amount of their nursing education. The purpose of this study was to examine the state of bullying in clinical nursing education among Canadian undergraduate nursing students (N = 674) in all 4 years of their nursing program. Results suggest that nursing students experience and witness bullying behaviors at various frequencies, most notably by clinical instructors and staff nurses. Third-year and fourth-year students experience more bullying behaviors than first-year and second-year students. Implications for practice include ensuring that clinical instructors are well prepared for their role as educators. Policies must be developed that address the issue of bullying within nursing programs and within health care facilities where nursing students undertake their clinical nursing education. Language: en

Bullying in Undergraduate Clinical Nursing Education

Background and Purpose
Men are underrepresented in nursing, accounting for less than 6% of Canadian nurses This research explores issues surrounding recruitment, retention, and work life satisfaction for men who are nurses working in acute care settings

Method and Findings
Purposive and snowball sampling was used in this descriptive, qualitative study Sixteen men participated in four focus groups conducted in three communities in southwestern Ontario The participants revealed that work stress, lack of full-time opportunities, and gender-based stereotypes contributed to job dissatisfaction Providing care to patients and making a difference were personal rewards that influenced their desire to stay in the profession To promote nursing as a viable profession, unrestricted by gender, the participants recommended that recruitment strategies begin at an earlier age

Discussion and Conclusion
Findings are discussed in relation to recruitment and retention issues with implications for education, practice, and management

If they do call you a nurse, it is always a "male nurse": experiences of men in the nursing profession.

The growth of the digital environment provides tremendous opportunities to revolutionize health behavior change efforts. This paper explores the use of Web-based, mobile, and social media health behavior change interventions and determines whether there is a need for a face-to-face or an in-person component. It is further argued that that although in-person components can be beneficial for online interventions, a digital person-to-person component can foster similar results while dealing with challenges faced by traditional intervention approaches. Using a digital person-to-person component is rooted in social and behavioral theories such as the theory of reasoned action, and the social cognitive theory, and further justified by the human support constructs of the model of supportive accountability. Overall, face-to-face and online behavior change interventions have their respective advantages and disadvantages and functions, yet both serve important roles. It appears that it is in fact human support that is the most important component in the effectiveness and adherence of both face-to-face and online behavior change interventions, and thoughtfully introducing a digital person-to-person component, to replace face-to-face interactions, can provide the needed human support while diminishing the barriers of in-person meetings. The digital person-to-person component must create accountability, generate opportunities for tailored feedback, and create social support to successfully create health behavior change. As the popularity of the online world grows, and the interest in using the digital environment for health behavior change interventions continues to be embraced, further research into not only the use of online interventions, but the use of a digital person-to-person component, must be explored.

/pdf/exploring-the-role-of-in-person-components-for-online-health-391genyhfw.pdf

Exploring the Role of In-Person Components for Online Health Behavior Change Interventions: Can a Digital Person-to-Person Component Suffice?

This article uses a set of strategies designed by Abigail Stewart to guide the generation of knowledge about women and gender to revisit the relationship between nursing and feminism. It is important that nurses be aware of the valuable feminist contributions made by their predecessors in order to uncover the hidden links that exist between nursing and feminism. As long as the relationship between nursing and feminism remains invisible, the gender problems in nursing that are systemic to a woman's occupation in a male-dominated society will continue.

Deborah Kane

Papers

Bullying in Undergraduate Clinical Nursing Education

If they do call you a nurse, it is always a "male nurse": experiences of men in the nursing profession.

Exploring the Role of In-Person Components for Online Health Behavior Change Interventions: Can a Digital Person-to-Person Component Suffice?

Nursing and the "F" word.