Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disability nursing"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 2 of 2
A psychodynamic interpretation of staff accounts of working with people who have learning disabilities and complex needs
- Authors:
- STOREY Judith, COLLIS Mary-Ann, CLEGG Jennifer
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 40(3), September 2012, pp.229-235.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Staff working with patients who have learning disabilities and complex mental health needs may experience negative emotions towards the patients. The aim of this study was to examine whether a psychoanalytical analysis can help in the understanding of staff accounts of their work. Interviews were conducted with 8 staff (6 qualified nurses and 2 nursing assistants) working with people who have a learning disability and complex mental health needs. The interviews aimed to elicit the participant’s conscious and unconscious reactions to their work. The findings were analysed using the free association narrative interview approach. The participants reported that organisational factors such as not having enough permanent staff and having to manage a complex patient mix impacted upon their work. Participants’ unconscious communications were interpreted as evidence that they were experiencing projected anxiety from their patients. Participants did not appear to be given opportunities in work to reflect upon their emotions and often coped by repressing painful experiences or displacing these onto the organisation. The article concludes that staff would benefit from exploring their conscious and unconscious reactions to their patients.
Learning from the past : emotional labour and learning disability nursing
- Authors:
- MITCHELL Duncan, SMITH Pat
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Learning Disabilities, 7(2), June 2003, pp.109-117.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This article explores learning disability nursing by examining evidence for emotional labour from the past. As such it offers insights into both methodological and political issues connected to emotional labour in nursing and explores issues within learning disability nursing. In particular it addresses the development of learning disability nursing and the way in which its role within institutions was defined in terms of emotional labour. Specific material from textbooks, minutes of curricular development meetings and GNC inspectors' reports are examined. It is suggested that emotional labour provides a shared experience between different branches of nursing as well as different periods of time. Such shared experience is particularly helpful to learning disability nurses in their position on the margins of the nursing profession. It is further suggested that emotional labour as a concept could be used to help develop understanding of work with people with learning disabilities.