Theorizing about nurses' work lives: the personal and professional aftermath of living with healthcare 'reform'.

In this paper we discuss the impact of healthcare 'reform' on nurses' personal and professional lives. Using a thematic analysis, we interviewed 38 nurses in Nova Scotia, Canada regarding their experiences of job displacement, inability to find full-time employment and job losses. Their stories reflect how they lived day by day and the effects this had on their children, partners, friends and leisure, as well as their financial burdens. We theorize about the relationship between nurses' work and women's work, and particularly about women working in unstable conditions and the impact on their lives and that of the clients with whom they work.

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia: the rise and fall of Miss Watson.

In this paper, we discuss the rise to power of Miss Mary Watson, first superintendent of a small hospital and school of nursing at the beginning of the century in a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. The data were retrieved from first-hand documents still preserved in the hospital. They consisted of student records written in her own hand, minutes of medical meetings which she attended, newspaper clippings and oral histories of nurses who worked in the Yarmouth Hospital in the 1920s and 1930s. We trace her professional career in that town and document how she lost control and eventually left the province of Nova Scotia.

A feminist critique of psychiatric nursing discourse.

This theoretical research explores the discourse, language, texts, and practices that are part of the everyday work world of psychiatric nursing. How information is created, what becomes established knowledge, and how it is disseminated are the foci of this particular discourse. Psychiatric nursing "science" has developed from the work of nursing theorists and researchers in an attempt to raise the status of nursing. The result has been that this knowledge wields power. Most of this knowledge is based on positivist assumptions to predict and control patients' behavior. Drawing upon the work of postmodernists and the sociology of knowledge experts in discourse analysis, this paper concludes that, because information is humanly constructed, nurses have the power to alter knowledge, and thereby to bring about alternative ways of knowing and subsequent social and political change.

Grounded theory as feminist research methodology.

Feminist research is evolving, and with it new methods of doing science. In this feminist post-positivist era, grounded theory, while less inclusive and descriptive than ethnography, allows for complex analysis of complex questions. While Glaser & Strauss (the originators of this methodology) have written about grounded theory in an esoteric way, others have written extensively about this method in a much clearer and less rigid fashion. In this paper we discuss how grounded theory could be used in a creative and constantly evolving manner for feminist research.

Feminist teaching and the older nurse: the journey from resistance through anger to hope.

Some of the material presented in the journals of mature student registered nurses in two nursing research methodology courses are analysed. The classes were taught from a critical feminist perspective; that is, gender, race, sexual orientation and class issues were addressed as the science of ideas was explored. The students kept journals of their experiences throughout the process. While this was not a 'research' project in the usual sense of the word, material evolved which was primarily an evaluation of my teaching approach and their responses to it. Excerpts of this material were kept as they provide rich data providing insights into teaching strategies. Students cannot be identified in this analysis. It was found that, initially, most resisted the ideas of feminist theory, research and praxis. As the classes progressed, many feelings were of anger about the oppression they had experienced in the past at work and personally but had not understood. Finally, towards the end of term, many students expressed hope that they would be able to bring about some social change within the profession as a result of the ideas discussed in classes. However, several students remained unconvinced that feminism was the way to evoke change.

Connecting older female nurses' worklife issues to retirement.

What are the worklife issues of significance to older nurses and to what extent will they influence retirement decisions? In Canada, the recent push toward obtaining a baccalaureate degree before the year 2000 has resulted in extraordinary pressures for older nurses and brought about divisions within the profession--age and experience being important variables in this conflict.

Interrupted work histories: retired women telling their stories.

The issue of women and work is a contemporary one which affects the private as well as the public sphere of women's lives. The social conditions which affect the present cohort of retired older women, have their roots in their work lives. In this article, we analyzed the oral histories of 7 retired women using a modified grounded theory approach to explore the long-term effects of having interrupted their work histories in order to care for family members. The core variable that emerged was the "valuing process" that occurred when these older women relieved their past experiences. We defined this as the relative merit that each participant attributed to her lifetime work achievements.

Dis-ease between nursing and feminism: nurses caring for one another within a feminist framework.

Mental health professionals have the experience and skills necessary to provide care and support to colleagues and peers in these troubled and stressful times. Yet, traditionally nurses have not been supportive of one another. Not receiving much interest from the feminist movement and not willingly to embrace feminist social activism, the nursing profession has suffered as it continues to embrace racist, classist, sexist, and homophobic outdated theories and research practices. Without a collective voice which unites all nurses in a common struggle, issues related to mental health nursing will continue to be viewed in a fragmented way. Until feminist research, theory, and practice become central to the profession's ideology, nurses will continue to be divided among themselves, unable to provide the necessary caring for one another.

The doctor-nurse relationship: an historical perspective.

The purpose of this historical research was to explore the evolution of the doctor-nurse relationship. Specifically, older nurses were interviewed regarding their nursing interactions with physicians approximately 50 years ago. A grounded theory approach was employed to analyse the data. Inherent to the difficulties nurses experienced was the dominant power position assumed by doctors in the health profession. The data give added insights into the development of this relationship. It was found that because nurses were educated primarily by doctors and because they were hired by doctors if they were considered to be 'good' nurses, a sex role stereotype of the nurse emerged. Historically these roles have influenced and continued to influence the nursing profession.