The meaning of emotion work to student nurses: a Heideggerian analysis.
BACKGROUND
Providing 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.


OBJECTIVE
The 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.


METHODS
Using 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.


RESULTS
The 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.


CONCLUSIONS
The insights gained from this study could be used to understand and support pre-registration student nurses in this aspect of their practice.
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom. Electronic address: k.jack@mmu.ac.uk.
Kirsten
K
Jack
Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Christopher
C
Wibberley
D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D013338:Students, Nursing; D006113:United Kingdom
Emotions/emotion work; Heidegger; Hermeneutics; Nursing