| Abstrakt: |
The firmly entrenched, negative attitude regarding the nurse in Czechoslovakia was a major deterrent to the development of nursing education in that country after the First World War. Social work was the culturally acceptable form of caring activity for educated women who perceived nursing as a hospital function performed by the religious orders and the less educated. Alice Masaryk, an innovative force in addressing social welfare problems after the war, reinforced this perception. Despite her early investigative experience in social welfare in American settlements before the war, Masaryk gave no indication that she was aware of the recent progress in the development of nursing in America. Her attitude fostered the indecisiveness of the ministers who lacked a clear understanding of nursing and who were reluctant to make any innovative changes that would modernize the profession. Furthermore, older physicians were content with the current nursing situation and did not share younger physicians' visions of a public health team that included well-educated nurses. Crowell had to negotiate within this political and cultural environment where the major figures struggled against proposed changes that may have seemed not only expensive, but also unsettling to their way of life. She recognized the necessity of respecting the Czech position and cooperating with them in attaining an amicable solution. Her educational and professional background, and the European cultural insights she had gained during her years in the U.S. supported her well in meeting this challenge. |
