Keywords

nursing, resilience, emotional labour, mental health, human connection, clinical supervision, self-care, healthcare, nursing education, advocacy

Summary

In this episode of Real Nurse Stories, Eva interviews Cynthia Delgado, a nurse with over 33 years of experience. She shares her journey into nursing, the importance of human connection, and her research on resilience and emotional labour in mental health nursing. Cynthia discusses the challenges nurses face in maintaining their emotional well-being and the significance of clinical supervision in supporting nurses. She emphasises the need for self-care, curiosity, and advocacy in nursing, encouraging nurses to develop relationships and speak up for their needs.

Chapters

00:00 Cynthia's Journey into Nursing

10:38 The Importance of Human Connection in Nursing

18:59 Challenges in Nursing: Balancing Care and Professional Demands

27:55 Exploring Resilience and Emotional Labour in Nursing

40:51 Emotional Labour in Nursing

45:39 Resilience and Emotional Labour

51:02 Generational Perspectives on Emotional Expression

56:12 The Importance of Clinical Supervision

01:01:57 Self-Care and Boundaries in Nursing

01:07:12 The Culture of Silence in Healthcare

01:13:15 Influencing Change in Nursing Practices

Links to Cynthia's Research

• Delgado, C., Evans, A., Roche, M., & Foster, K. (2022). Mental health nurses' resilience in the context of emotional labour: An interpretive qualitative study. International Journal      of Mental Health Nursing, 31(5), 1260-1275.https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13037
• Delgado, C., Roche, M., Fethney, J., & Foster, K. (2021). Mental health nurses’ psychological well-being, mental distress, and workplace resilience: A cross-sectional survey. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 30, 1234-1247.https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12874
• Delgado, C., Roche, M., Fethney, J., & Foster, K. (2020). Workplace resilience and emotional labour of Australian mental health nurses: Results of a national survey. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 29(1), 35-46.https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12598
• Delgado, C., Upton, D., Ranse, K., Furness, T., & Foster, K. (2017). Nurses’ resilience and the emotional labour of nursing work: An integrative review of empirical literature. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 70, 71-88.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2017.02.008
• Working with resilience: https://www.workingwithresilience.com.au/ I used their individual scale in the research study.
• Genos International – They focus on emotional intelligence at work: https://www.genosinternational.com/emotional-intelligence

• The authors I mentioned regarding emotional labour are:

• Arlie Hochschild – Coined the term emotional labour and wrote a book about it: The Managed Heart – Commercialisation of human feeling 
• Catherine Theodosius – Expanded and applied the concept of emotional labour to nursing. Also wrote a book about it:  Emotional labour in health care: The unmanaged heart of nursing