"This is part of the body" - Student nurses' de-sexualisation of intimate care for patients.

Autor: Mao A; Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Avenida do Hospital das Ilhas no. 447, Coloane, RAEM, Macau. Electronic address: maoaimei@kwnc.edu.mo., Van IK; Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Avenida do Hospital das Ilhas no. 447, Coloane, RAEM, Macau., Cheong PL; Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Avenida do Hospital das Ilhas no. 447, Coloane, RAEM, Macau., Tam HL; Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Avenida do Hospital das Ilhas no. 447, Coloane, RAEM, Macau; The Nethersole School of Nursing, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Esther Lee Building, N.T., Hong Kong.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nurse education today [Nurse Educ Today] 2024 Aug; Vol. 139, pp. 106209. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Apr 11.
DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2024.106209
Abstrakt: Background: Effective intimate care can significantly impact the clinical outcomes of patients. However, conducting intimate care, which involves exposing and touching sexually sensitive areas of the body, presents challenges and anxieties for student nurses, particularly when providing care for patients of the opposite sex.
Objectives: This study aims to identify the challenges and struggles encountered by student nurses when providing intimate care for patients of the opposite sex, as well as to explore the coping strategies employed by the students.
Design: A constructivist grounded theory research approach.
Settings: The study was conducted in Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China.
Participants: Twenty-six student nurses across various stages of their education, and three clinical mentors.
Methods: Purposive and theoretical sampling techniques were utilized to recruit participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data analysis was in line with the principles of constructivist grounded theory research.
Results: A two-stage adaptation model was established, demonstrating a dynamic pathway of student nurses toward intimate care. The first stage 'gendered confinement in intimate care' was characterized by student nurses' negative feelings and lack of nurse-patient interactions; the second stage 'emancipation to gendered confinement' was characterized by the development of constructive therapeutic nurse-patient relationships. The successful transfer was achieved through students' reconstructing the meaning of intimate care and nursing profession in three interplayed types: objectification of patients' body, moral authority of nursing care, and legitimisation of nursing profession. While the transfer process involved the students' intentional efforts to de-sexualize intimate care, clinical mentors facilitated the process.
Conclusion: Student nurses' adaption to intimate care is a dynamic process which enhances the construction of the nursing professional identity. Support from nursing educators can facilitate student nurses' coping with intimate care-related challenges.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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