Paper
Friday, July 23, 2004
Empowering Relationships in Family-Focused Nursing
Megan Aston, PhD, RN and Donna Meagher-Stewart, PhD, RN. School of Nursing, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
| Learning Objective #1: Understand how public health nurses practice empowering relations with new mothers that are creative and complex |
| Learning Objective #2: Understand the concepts of empowerment, language and agency as they pertain to 1) the social construction of mothering and 2) the practice of family-focused public health nursing |
Objective: This pilot study examined how empowerment, as an ideology and a practice of teaching and learning, was understood and applied by public health nurses and new mothers during home visits in Nova Scotia Canada. Design and Methods: Feminist poststructuralist methodology was used to explore the language, practices and meaning of empowerment as well as understand the complex therapeutic relationship. Observations of home visits and in-depth interviews were conducted with mothers and public health nurses working in Family Focused Nursing. Population: Three public health nurses and three mothers one month postpartum were purposively selected for this pilot study. Concepts studied: The concepts of empowerment, agency and subjectivity were used to support and understand the belief that the women in this study were self-reflexive, conscious of their own social locations and able to exercise free will to change their own circumstances. Findings: The role of nurse-as-expert and the social construction of mothering were tightly woven within the threads of the therapeutic relationship which ultimately informed the dynamics of empowerment. Being attentive to relations of power was evident as these nurses and mothers continually challenged stereotypes of mothering and nursing. Conclusions: These public health nurses engaged in practices of empowerment that were multilayered. They used ongoing assessments, trust, genuineness, listening and a belief in client led health which were intricately woven into a complex interaction between the nurses and new mothers. Implications: This pilot study has provided the initial stepping stone to continued research that will explore the dynamics of empowerment in a variety of settings that focus on empowerment as a relationship and a process outcome. The information gathered from this study offers a rich understanding of nurses’ educational practices with new mothers. The findings give evidence of public health nurses creative and committed pedagogical practices.
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Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004