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Author  |
Wilson, H.V. |
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Title |
Surveillance or support: Divergent discourses in Plunket nursing practice |
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Year |
2000 |
Publication |
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Abbreviated Journal |
Victoria University of Wellington Library |
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Volume |
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Issue |
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Pages |
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Keywords |
Public health; Children; Community health nursing; Plunket |
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Abstract |
Plunket nurses are New Zealand child health nurses who work in the community with the families of new babies and preschool children. Their work is called child health surveillance and this is considered to involve routine and unproblematic practices which are generally carried out in homes and clinics in the context of a relationship with the child's mother (Ministry of Health 1996; Royal New Zealand Plunket Society 1997). However, evidence in the literature that surveillance can have implications for power relations throws doubts on official claims that the relationship between the mother and nurse operates as a partnership (Trout and Polaschek 1996). The purpose of this thesis was to explore the way in which surveillance is constituted within the discourses of Plunket nurses and to examine these discourses for any implications of unequal power relations. Foucauldian discourse theory and poststructuralism, which informed this thesis, provided the opportunity to challenge assumptions about power and knowledge in the child health context. Analysis of the discourses generated by interviews with five Plunket nurses revealed that, contrary to the claims in the official literature, the relationship between the Plunket nurse and the mother is not that of an equal partnership but is constituted in various and unexpected ways. It was through the nurses' discourses of surveillance that the power relations underpinning this relationship were surfaced. While these discourses suggested that many mothers who use the nursing service are actively involved on their own terms, there are a number of women for whom the surveillance activities of the nurse have been shown to be particularly intrusive (Mayall 1986; Clinton 1988; Bloor and McIntosh 1990; Knott and Latter 1999). It may be primarily this unwelcome surveillance which accounts for the considerable number of women who, the statistics show, cease using Plunket services particularly in the early months. It is perhaps for this reason that the nurses in this study locate themselves as being caught between divergent discourses of support and surveillance. Findings indicate that the resolution of this dilemma by abandoning surveillance practices might improve maternal satisfaction with the Plunket nursing service. The author concludes that a child health service responsive to mothers' stated needs rather than institutional requirements or the nurse's own agenda could lead to a more open and equal relationship between mother and nurse. This relationship would be likely to benefit mothers and babies and, at the same time, enhance both nursing practice and nurses' satisfaction with their work. |
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Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
899 |
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Author |
Wilson, H.V. |
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Title |
Power and partnership: A critical analysis of the surveillance discourses of child health nurses |
Type |
Journal Article |
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Year |
2001 |
Publication |
Journal of Advanced Nursing |
Abbreviated Journal |
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Volume |
36 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
294-301 |
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Keywords |
Paediatric nursing; Nurse-family relations; Nursing philosophy; Plunket |
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Abstract |
The aim of this research was to explore surveillance discourses within New Zealand child health nursing and to identify whether surveillance practices have implications in this context for power relations. Five experienced and practising Plunket nurses were each interviewed twice. The texts generated by these semi-structured interviews were analysed using a Foucauldian approach to critical discourse analysis. In contrast with the conventional view of power as held and wielded by one party, this study revealed that, in the Plunket nursing context, power is exercised in various and unexpected ways. Although the relationship between the mother and the nurse cannot be said to operate as a partnership, it is constituted in the nurses' discourses as a dynamic relationship in which the mother is actively engaged on her own terms. The effect of this is that it is presented by the nurses as a precarious relationship that has significant implications for the success of their work. |
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Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
1085 |
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Author |
Wilson, H.V. |
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Title |
Paradoxical pursuits in child health nursing practice: Discourses of scientific mothercraft |
Type |
Journal Article |
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Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Critical Public Health |
Abbreviated Journal |
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Volume |
13 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
281-293 |
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Keywords |
Plunket; Nurse-family relations; Paediatric nursing; Nursing philosophy |
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Abstract |
The purpose of this paper is to examine the discourses of scientific mothercraft and their implications for the nurse-mother relationship, drawing on the author's recent research into surveillance and the exercise of power in the child health nursing context. The application of Foucauldian discourse analysis to the texts generated by interviews with five New Zealand child health nurses confirms that this paradoxical role has never been fully resolved. Plunket nurses primarily work in the community with the parents of new babies and preschool children. Their work, child health surveillance, is considered to involve routine and unproblematic practices generally carried out in the context of a relationship between the nurse and the mother. However, there are suggestions in the literature that historically the nurse's surveillance role has conflicting objectives, as she is at the same time an inspector and family friend. |
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Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ 1116 |
Serial |
1101 |
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Author |
Chang, E.M.; Bidewell, J.W.; Huntington, A.D.; Daly, J.; Johnson, A.; Wilson, H.; Lambert, V.; Lambert, C.E. |
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Title |
A survey of role stress, coping and health in Australian and New Zealand hospital nurses |
Type |
Journal Article |
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Year |
2008 |
Publication |
Intensive & Critical Care Nursing |
Abbreviated Journal |
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Volume |
44 |
Issue |
8 |
Pages |
1354-1362 |
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Keywords |
Stress; Psychology; Cross-cultural comparison; Nursing |
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Abstract |
The aim of this study was to examine and compare Australian and New Zealand nurses' experience of workplace stress, coping strategies and health status. A postal survey was administered to 328 New South Wales (Australia) and 190 New Zealand volunteer acute care hospital nurses (response rate 41%) from randomly sampled nurses. The survey consisted of a demographic questionnaire, the Nursing Stress Scale, the WAYS of Coping Questionnaire and the SF-36 Health Survey Version 2. More frequent workplace stress predicted lower physical and mental health. Problem-focused coping was associated with better mental health. Emotion-focused coping was associated with reduced mental health. Coping styles did not predict physical health. New South Wales and New Zealand scored effectively the same on sources of workplace stress, stress coping methods, and physical and mental health when controlling for relevant variables. Results suggest mental health benefits for nurses who use problem-solving to cope with stress by addressing the external source of the stress, rather than emotion-focused coping in which nurses try to control or manage their internal response to stress. Cultural similarities and similar hospital environments could account for equivalent findings for New South Wales and New Zealand. |
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Call Number |
NRSNZNO @ research @ |
Serial |
970 |
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