Sacrificing the personal to the professional: community mental health nurses

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dc.contributor.authorBrown, Brian J.
dc.contributor.authorCrawford, Paul
dc.contributor.authorMajomi, Pamela
dc.date.accessioned2009-03-12T16:11:56Z
dc.date.available2009-03-12T16:11:56Z
dc.date.issued2003-06-01
dc.descriptionThe definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com
dc.description.abstractThe study of stress in mental health nurses has almost always focused on factors intrinsic to their job roles and has neglected the interaction between work and home roles, which may also be a source of stress. Moreover, role theory has not provided an adequate account of either personal or occupational change, especially when this results from the experience of stress. Methods. Twenty community mental health nurses agreed to participate in semistructured interviews about the stresses they experienced at work and at home. A grounded theory analysis disclosed the centrality of conflicts between work and home roles in participants' accounts and this provided the focus for subsequent detailed readings of the interview transcripts. Findings. Participants described how difficult and often demanding family situations were integrated with professional careers in a climate of rapid organizational change in the health service. As well as being an ongoing source of strain, these competing role demands were often described as leading to sudden changes for individual workers, such as periods of illness or re-evaluation of their work role. To assist in making sense of this process, the term ˜punctuated equilibria" was adopted to illuminate the build-up of tension between work and domestic lives, which was described by some workers as leading to a sudden reformulation of their relationship to their work roles and employing organizations. Conclusions and limitations. The study was small-scale and relied on retrospective self-reports. Nevertheless, it emphasized the importance of considering all the roles that individuals play and highlights the possibility that, even when staff are apparently coping with their roles at work and home, difficulties may be building up which could lead to a sudden period of absenteeism or disillusionment.en
dc.identifier.citationBrown, B. J., Crawford, P., Majomi, P. (2003) Experience before and throughout the nursing career: Sacrificing the personal to the professional: community mental health nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 42 (5), pp. 527-538.en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2003.02652.x
dc.identifier.issn1365-2648
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2086/1263
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherBlackwellen
dc.researchgroupParticipation & Social Justice
dc.researchgroupPsychology
dc.researchgroupHealth Policy
dc.researchgroupHealth Policy Research Unit
dc.researchinstituteInstitute of Health, Health Policy and Social Careen
dc.researchinstituteMary Seacole Research Centreen
dc.subjectRAE 2008en
dc.subjectUoA 11 Nursing and Midwiferyen
dc.subjectcommunity mental health nurses
dc.subjectstress
dc.subjectroles
dc.subjecthome-work conflict
dc.titleSacrificing the personal to the professional: community mental health nursesen
dc.typeArticleen

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