gms | German Medical Science

Background: In 2007 when Ruth Schröck left Germany to go to Edinburgh she handed over two Leitz folders full of documents about the origin of DVP (Deutscher Verein für Pflegewissenschaft = German Association of Nursing Science) (today: DGP Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pflegewissenschaft = German Society of Nursing Science) to the Hilde Steppe documentation office at the University of applied Sciences, Frankfurt/Main. DGP assigned me a research project “Preliminary Study on the Emergence of Nursing Science in Germany” based on these two folders. During the research there was the opportunity to extend the research to documents from “Hilde Steppe’s correspondence”.

Objectives: I want to present results of this research 2007 in order to start writing the “History of DGP”. In 2007 the research was titled as “preliminary study”, but nobody ever worked with this preliminary study (except Sabine Bartholomeyczik in her article about “30 years of DGP”).

Design and methods: In 2007 I formulated questions and at this moment I added new questions which I want to explain:

1.

First sections: did they survive or did they disappear?

2.

Were there “visionaries” in the beginning of DVP?

3.

First Projects of research after 1990?

4.

DVP: captured between institutions: Red Cross, Churches, Trade Unions, DBfK?

5.

First contacts with “new federal states”?

6.

Marianne Arndt’s preamble still actual?

7.

Mitscherlich/Mielke, nationalsocialism as subject in the first years?

8.

Role of men?

Results: First activities came mostly from nursing teachers. Management and men played a subordinate role. There was a lot of resistance against the DVP. Contact to “new federal states” went slowly.

Conclusion: The “Preliminary Study” should be continued in order to write the history of DGP and the history of nursing science. There is a delay of 14 years.