How Activism Features in the Career Lives of Four Generations of Canadian Nurses

The Environment as a Patient: A Content Analysis of Canadian Nursing Organizations and Regulatory Bodies Policies on Environmental Health

BACKGROUND

Individual, community, and societal health is impacted by the environment, specifically by air, water and soil pollution, and climate change. Poor environmental conditions have been associated with many illness exacerbations. Although global nursing organizations have increased their environmental health focus, evidence is lacking that Canadian nurse leaders and organizations are similarly invested.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this analysis was to explore the policies of Canadian nursing regulatory bodies and associations on nursing practice specific to environmental health.

METHODS

A content analysis of nursing focused position statements and competency documents was conducted to assess Canadian nursing policies in environmental health. Publicly available position statements and competency documents regarding health and the environment were retrieved from Canadian nursing regulatory colleges and nursing associations, the Canadian Nursing Associations, and the International Council of Nurses. All documents were coded inductively and thematically analyzed.

RESULTS

In total, 22 documents were retrieved which consisted of 11 policy statements from nursing associations and 11 competency documents from nursing regulators and national associations. Four themes were generated: collaboration, language of engagement, nursing actions, and social justice.

CONCLUSION

There is a gap between nursing policies and competencies directing nursing action related to the health of the environment across Canada. There is an opportunity to improve eco-literacy within the nursing profession, undergraduate education and to produce nursing research on environmental health.

Health activism as nursing practice: A scoping review

AIMS

The aim was to assess the current literature investigating health activism within nursing practice.

DESIGN

This was a scoping review of the literature utilizing the updated Levac et al.'s framework.

DATA SOURCE/REVIEW METHODS

A search of the CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus and Allied Health databases was conducted for peer-reviewed, English research published between January 2000 and April 2021.

RESULTS

Thirty-one articles met the criteria for inclusion in this study. The included research in nursing and health activism was heterogeneous in topic and method and primarily conducted in North America. Four themes resulted from the inductive thematic analysis: (1) Doing Health Activism, (2) Facilitators to Engaging in Health Activism, (3) Barriers to Health Activism Engagement and (4) Limited Education. Activism was not consistently defined and the term was used interchangeably with advocacy.

CONCLUSION

There is a gap between nursing scope of practice, and education and skills in health activism. There is limited research regarding health activism and what constitutes as health activism. There is an opportunity to improve health activism awareness and skills within the nursing profession and undergraduate education and to produce nursing research on health activism.

IMPACT

Health activism is integral to the nursing role, however, evidence suggests nurses lack confidence to engage in activism as practice. This is important for nurses across the world and in all care specialities.

Towards democratic institutions: Tronto's care ethics inspiring nursing actions in intensive care

Care as a concept has long been central to the nursing discipline, and care ethics have consequently found their place in nursing ethics discussions. This paper briefly revisits how care and care ethics have been theorized and applied in the discipline of nursing, with an emphasis on Tronto's political view of care. Adding to the works of other nurse scholars, we consider that Tronto's care ethics is useful to understand caring practices in a sociopolitical context. We also contend that this vision can be used specifically to politicize nurses, by encouraging them to think critically about the context in which they work and how they can participate to change the status quo, notably by prompting the democratization of care in institutional settings. We illustrate this by demonstrating how moral distress that can occur with aggressive or futile treatments in the intensive care unit can be reduced if nurses are systematically included in the decision-making process. By showing some ways in which nursing political actions can begin to change the status quo as it pertains to futile treatments at the end of life, we can help empower nurses to strive to be included in political spaces and voice their concerns to have their professional needs met.

Concept analysis of nursing activism

Nursing history is firmly rooted in social and political activism; however, both the word activism and its defined actions have been minimized in modern nursing practice. This paper seeks to define activism, its uses, and importance to the nursing discipline. A concept analysis using the Walker and Avant (2019) method was conducted. Literature sources were identified through a search of PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO along with hand searches of reference lists. Nursing activism is a concept that extends from within the discipline's ethical responsibilities and social contract with humanity. Activism differs from advocacy or engagement as it requires the expenditure of energy including personal, social, and/or political capital. Nursing activism is a necessary response to health inequities, social accountability, and advancement of the nursing profession.

Determining if nurses are involved in political action or politics: A scoping literature review

BACKGROUND

There is much current as well as long-standing concern that nurses need to be more involved in and also more adept at politics and political action for the advancement of the profession, and for the health and wellbeing of the public.

OBJECTIVES

An historical scoping literature review was carried out to identify if, as well as why, when, and how nurses become involved in government or meso-level political action or politics, and what is or has been gained through this involvement.

DESIGN

Scoping literature review.

SETTINGS (INCLUDING GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION)

Worldwide published literature.

PARTICIPANT

Nil.

METHODS

Research and non-research articles on the topic were identified in a decade-by-decade search of the CINAHL database, all relevant ones were retained, and the per-decade findings in them were compared over time.

RESULTS

Only 25 research reports, published 1988-2019, were identified. These studies were conducted in a few, mostly developed, countries. They provide a varied picture of nurse or nursing association involvement in political action and policy circles. In contrast, the opinion and theory articles demonstrate increased nurse and nursing association involvement in, as well as rising skill in political action and public policy engagement, although primarily in the United States and Canada.

CONCLUSIONS

Research and case reports are needed now in all countries to correct the view that nurses and nursing associations are apolitical, and to gain information on how and why nurses and nursing associations become politically active and also determine what is gained through this activity.

The Perceptions of Professional Values among Students at a Spanish Nursing School

(1) Background: This study aims to reflect student nurses' perceptions of professional values across the four training years. (2) Methods: This study was designed as a cross-sectional study; data were collected using the Nurses' Professional Values Scale-Revised, adapted by Basurto-Hoyuelos. A total of 315 student nurses participated from a Nursing Faculty in Spain representing each of the four academic years. (3) Results: Students' perceptions of professional values were significantly correlated with their academic year. Overall, students' scores were higher in the ethics dimension. The two highest scores were for Maintain patient confidentiality for years 1 and 2 (4.77 and 4.68, respectively) and Safeguard patients' right to privacy for years 3 and 4 (4.95 and 4.98, respectively). Lower scores were observed in the professional expertise dimension across all years, and corresponded to a single item Participate in peer review (3.51, 3.38, 3.98, and 3.26, respectively). (4) Conclusions: This study is relevant as it highlights how nursing students' perceptions of professional values change overtime, even during the four years of their training. The ethics dimension was the most highly regarded across all academic years. However, the professional expertise dimension requires greater attention throughout the degree as students regarded it as less important for their immediate future.

Outrage and the emotional labour associated with environmental activism among nurses

AIM

To investigate the emotions associated with environmental activism among nurses.

BACKGROUND

Nursing has a long history of political activism in relation to social justice issues. Some nurses are environmental activists.

DESIGN

Ethnography.

METHODS

Focus groups and individual interviews were triangulated with additional observational data. The 40 participants (USA = 23, UK = 17) were nurses actively engaged with environmental/sustainability issues. Data collection was from March-October 2017. Data were analysed using discourse analysis.

RESULTS

The trigger for nurses' environmental activism was a strong emotional response to recognizing risks to human health. Their activism results in an additional emotion burden above which they routinely experience in caring for patients. Many feel over-whelmed by the magnitude of the issues. Nurses in America feel more supported and empowered to be activists than UK nurses.

CONCLUSION

This study reveals for the first time that advocating for the environment is emotional labour, additional to the previously recognized emotional labour associated with caring for patients. Encouragement and support from others, particularly fellow nurses, helps nurse environmental activists continue to fight for the health of communities and the planet.

IMPACT

Outrage at threats to human health triggers nurses' environmental activism. Environmental activism creates an additional emotional burden above that routinely experienced in caring for patients. Nurses in America feel more supported and empowered to be activists than UK. Nurses whose practice embraces environmental activism need practical and emotional support from other nurses.

Contested Practice: Political Activism in Nursing and Implications for Nursing Education

Canadian nurses have a social mandate to address health inequities for the populations they serve, as well as to speak out on professional and broader social issues. Although Canadian nursing education supports the role of nurses as advocates for social justice and leadership for health care reform, little is known about how nurse educators understand activism and how this translates in the classroom. A comparative life history study using purposeful sampling and a critical feminist lens was undertaken to explore political activism in nursing and how nurse educators foster political practice among their students. Findings from interviews and focus groups with 26 Ontario nurse educators and nursing students suggested that neoliberal dynamics in both the practice setting and in higher education have constrained nurses' activist practice and favour a technical rational approach to nursing education. Implications and strategies to inspire political action in nursing education are discussed.