Emotional Labor in the Care Field and Empathy-enhancing Education by Reading Literature: A Brief Review
Abstract
Background: Nursing is not just task-based work, but also emotional work. Nurses are also obliged to satisfy patients’ emotional needs, which often results in burnout and depression. We aimed to propose an effective method for reducing their emotional burden.
Methods: We took theoretical measure to verify some theories on emotion and emotional labor.
Results: Empathy can be enhanced by reading literature. It has been recognized from ancient times that reading is an empathic experience in its very essence. Reading is not possible without the reader identifying and sympathizing with the character in the story.
Conclusion: Reading literature is not only an efficient means of enhancing empathy, but also very practical to implement. Among programs that proved efficient are role exchange programs, here-and-now spontaneity, perspective taking, simulation exercises, and so on. The problem with them is that they require special facilities and equipment. If they are not available, reading practice would be the best alternative.
Hochschild AR (1993). The managed heart: The commercialization of feeling. 3rd ed. USA: Uni-versity of California Press.
Herdson A (2001). Emotional labor and nursing: an under-appreciated aspect of caring work. Nurs Inq, 8(2): 130-138.
MacKusick CL, Minick P (2010). Why are nurses leaving? Findings from an initial qualitative study on nursing attrition. Med-surg Nurs, 19(6): 335-340.
Kinman G, Leggetter S (2016). Emotional Labour and Wellbeing: What Protects Nurses? Healthcare (Basel), 4: 89.
Below AV (2016). Education for students of physiotherapy: how to learn empathy – a theatre pedagogy project – Bachelor the-sis: is empathy teachable through theatre techniques. Physiotherapy, 102(1): e129-e130.
Pugh DS (2001). Service with a Smile: Emo-tional Contagion in the Service Encoun-ter. The Academy of Management Journal, 44(5): 1018-1027.
Grandy A, Diefendorff J, Rupp D (2013). Emotional labor in the 21st century: Diverse Per-spectives on Emotion Regulation at Work. 1st ed. UK: Routledge.
Karimi L, Leggat SG, Donohue L et al (2014). Emotional rescue: the role of emotional intelligence and emotional la-bour on well‐being and job‐stress among community nurses. J Adv Nurs, 70 (1): 176-186.
Hülsheger UR, Schewe AF (2011). On the costs and benefits of emotional labor: A meta-analysis of three decades of re-search. J Occup Health Psychol, 16(3): 361-389.
Damasio AR (2003). Looking for Spinoza. 1st ed. USA: Harvest.
Rothschild B, Rand M (2006). Help for the Helper: The psychophysiology of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma. USA: W. W. Norton & Company.
Ickes W (1997). Empathic accuracy. 1st ed. USA: Guilford Press.
Wróbel M (2013). Can empathy lead to emotional exhaustion in teachers? The mediating role of emotional labor. Int J Occup Med Environ Health, 26(4): 581-592.
Rousseau J. Emile. Cited from Nussbaum MC (2004). Hiding from Humanity. USA: Princeton University Press. vii.
Kerasidou A, Horn R (2016). Making space for empathy: supporting doctors in the emotional labour of clinical care. BMC Medical Ethics, 17(1): 8.
Vanlaere L, Coucke T, Gastmans C (2010). Experiential learning of empathy in a care-ethics lab. Nurs Ethics, 17(3): 325-336.
Shechtman, Z, Nir-Shfrir, R (2008). The Ef-fect of Affective Bibliotherapy on Clients' Functioning in Group Therapy. Int J Group Psychother, 58(1): 103–117.
Poulet G (1972). Criticism and the Experi-ence of Interiority. In: The Structuralist Con-troversy. Ed. Macksey R, Donato E. USA: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 60, 61.
Lorde A (1997). The Cancer Journals. 2nd ed. USA: Aunt Lute Books.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 47 No 8 (2018) | |
| Section | Review Article(s) | |
| Keywords | ||
| Emotional labor Depression Deep acting Surface acting Empathy Literature | ||
| Rights and permissions | |
|
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
