The nursing gaze: power relations in a study of nurse-resident interactions in learning disability.
The researchers observed nurse-resident interactions in learning disability units in Hong Kong and interviewed a purposeful sample of nurses who had varying levels of interaction. The median interaction rate between nurses and residents was 27.5% with most interactions relating to physical care. When not interacting with residents, nurses performed administrative tasks. Factors that influenced nurses' interactions revolve around their orientation to a new clinical setting, stresses in the care setting and nurses' coping strategies, contextual constraints, and nurses' prioritization of care. Support for Goffman's self-mortification principle, Foucault's notion of the clinical gaze and infantilism theory were evident in the practice of the nurses studied.
Lau
V M H
VM
Kwai Chung Hospital, Hong Kong.
Callaghan
P
P
Twinn
S F
SF
Goodfellow
B
B
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000451:nursing / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D010820:Physicians; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D013315:Stress, Psychological