ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Emotional regulation forms an integral part of healthcare delivery. In the performance of the core duties of nursing and midwifery, health professionals are expected to enhance occupationally/organisationally required emotions. The purpose of this study is to explore.The meaning nurses and midwives give to emotional labour as well as the coping resources employed by these professionals in order to manage the emotional demands of their profession. METHOD: A qualitative study was conducted using a semi-structured interview guide with fifteen (15) purposively selected nurses and midwives. Interviews were recorded and simultaneously translated and transcribed. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Our findings showed that participants conceptualized emotional labour as display of rules. Sadness, abuse and bullying, poor incentivisation, emotional exhaustion and emotional mix bag were reported by the participants as emotional demands and deficits. Nurses and midwives coped with emotional labour through the use of five (5) main resources: psychological capital, routinisation of emotions, religious resources, social support and job security. CONCLUSION: Nursing and midwifery professional duties are accompanied with emotional regulations which tend to have consequential effects on a myriad of work-related issues. Clinical healthcare training needs to intensify and equip professionals with the skills of regulating and managing their emotions since managing emotional demands are central to effective healthcare delivery.
ABSTRACT
AIM: To provide exploratory and descriptive evidence on the prevalence estimate and some demographic correlates of suicidal behaviour among nursing and midwifery college students in Ghana. DESIGN: We used a cross-sectional survey design. METHOD: An anonymous survey involving a randomly selected sample of 305 nursing and midwifery college students was conducted in March-May 2017. The Suicide Behavior Questionnaire-Revised was used to assess suicidal behaviour (i.e., ideation, planning, threat and attempt) and suicidal behaviour risk. RESULTS: The lifetime prevalence of suicide ideations (15.4%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.11-0.20), plans (6.6%; 95% CI = 0.04-0.10), attempts (2.3%; 95% CI = 0.01-0.05), threats (13.4%; 95% CI = 0.10-0.18) and 12-month prevalence of ideations (21.3%; 95% CI = 0.17-0.26) are comparable to estimates found in both high-income and low- and middle-income countries. However, associations between the demographic variables studied and suicidal behaviour risk were not statistically significant.
ABSTRACT
AIM: The present study was set out to establish the link between emotional labour (surface and deep acting) and job attitudes (job satisfaction organizational commitment) by introducing perceived organizational support as a moderating variable. DESIGN: The study made use of a cross-sectional design by sampling three hundred and forty-two (342) nurses and midwives from six health facilities in Ghana. METHODS: The study employed a quantitative approach to examine the relationships between the study variables. RESULTS: The study disclosed that whereas surface acting related negatively with job satisfaction but not with organizational commitment, deep acting did not relate significantly with both job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Perceived organizational support as a moderating variable showed a significant moderating effect between surface acting and job attitudes. However, Perceived organizational support moderated the relationship between deep acting and organizational commitment but not job satisfaction. The findings pose much contextual relevance to health professionals where emotional regulations are core responsibilities of health care.
