Research Description:

Emotional Labor and Socialization: An Analysis of Display Rules, Stress and Coping within the Nursing Occupation

Dr. Kammeyer-Mueller and I are studying nurses to examine how this occupation involves high levels of stress and emotional labor management. Many studies have looked at stress and the implications of stressful jobs, however, there has been little research to examine display rules and emotional labor in a stressful occupation such as nursing. Our research will help provide insight on the emotional demands placed on nurses and identify areas where they are exposed to burnout.

Nurses often find themselves faced with difficult tasks such as taking blood samples from an unwilling patient, administering care to a sick youth or interacting with a dying person. These interactions can leave nurses stressed and disillusioned with their work. Our research will set out to examine the emotional interaction that nurses have while performing their tasks. This project will survey how student nurses and nursing professionals alter how they feel and act to cope with the emotional pressures found in the nursing profession. We will study how nurses express their emotions, and whether their actual feelings match their displayed emotions. The project will also explore the approach in which student nurses are being taught to deal with their work related emotions, examining if they are they instructed to deal with daily tasks in a mechanistic manner or if they are becoming emotionally attached through their work.

The research method will begin with an extensive research examination of current studies in display rules, emotional labor, socialization, stress and coping. Then, a primary interview with a small sample of nursing students will be undertaken to identify stressful occurrences in the profession. Afterwards, a standardized survey will be developed to be sent out to nursing students and nursing professionals to examine stress and their emotional demands in the profession. Results will be analyzed and reported in the form of a professional paper.