title: What do we know about emotional labour in nursing? A narrative review.
abstract: Nurses have to manage their emotions and the expression of emotion to perform best care, and their behaviours pass through emotional labour (EL). However, EL seems to be an under-appreciated aspect of caring work and there is no synthetic portrait of literature about EL in the nursing profession. This review was conducted to synthesise and to critically analyse the literature in the nursing field related to EL. Twenty-seven papers were included and analysed with a narrative approach, where two main themes were found: EL strategies and EL antecedents and consequences. Hence, EL is a multidimensional, complex concept and it represents a nursing competence to provide the best care. Moreover, nurses have a high awareness of EL as a professional competence, which is a fundamental element to balance engagement with an appropriate degree of detachment to accomplish tasks for best practice, and to provide high-quality patient care.
authors.affiliation: PhD Candidate, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Sondra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Badolamenti
authors.affiliation: Nurse Director, Policlinico Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sili
authors.affiliation: Head of Health Professions Research and Development Unit, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caruso
authors.affiliation: Lecturer in Organizational Behaviour, Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: FidaFida
mesh_terms: D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D024802:Nurse's Role
keywords: Deep acting; Emotion work; Emotional labour; Nursing; Surface acting