gms | German Medical Science

1st International Conference of the German Society of Nursing Science

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pflegewissenschaft e. V.

04.05. - 05.05.2018, Berlin

A narrative inquiry into the experiences of nurses working in palliative care: unpacking notions of disgust

Meeting Abstract

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  • presenting/speaker Mara Kaiser - Pflegewissenschaft, Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Vallendar
  • Helen Kohlen - Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Vallendar (PTHV)
  • Vera Caine - University of Alberta

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pflegewissenschaft e.V. (DGP). 1st International Conference of the German Society of Nursing Science. Berlin, 04.-05.05.2018. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2018. Doc18dgpO03

doi: 10.3205/18dgp003, urn:nbn:de:0183-18dgp0033

Veröffentlicht: 30. April 2018

© 2018 Kaiser et al.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). Lizenz-Angaben siehe http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Gliederung

Text

Background and Purpose: While disgust is part of the care practices of nurses working in palliative care, it is often silenced. In this paper we will inquire into experiences of disgust.

Method & Research Focus: In this narrative inquiry, the first author worked alongside two palliative care nurses in a large urban hospice setting in Germany over a period of three months. During this time she engaged in ongoing conversations and participants took photographs to express visually their experiences of disgust.

Methodological and Theoretical Focus: Narrative inquiry is grounded in Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy, which acknowledges the pluality of experience and is future oriented. Relational ethics is at the heart of each narrative inquiry. Through a focus on experience, we gained access to notions of a silenced and often inexpressible element of practice.

Results: We recognised that embedded in the experience of disgust are borderlands of care that challenge who we are and are becoming. In these borderlands we touch and are touched by our experiences of disgust. Focusing on feelings of disgust made it possible to think about the intuitive aspects of care practices we seldom talk about, yet are aspects that are ever present in our interactions with others.

Conclusions: Experiences of disgust play a role in both protecting and threatening care practices. Disgust can be understood on a continuum between silence, protection and boundaries. Opening discussion about disgust in nursing can challenge the current silence and make visible the complexity of care.