Boundary work in the nursing curriculum: the case of sociology

A discussion of the boundaries between nursing and sociology is contained in this paper The creation of nursing as an academic subject is discussed and compared with the creation of academic geography The creation of academic subject involves 'boundary work' in which power and legitimacy are conferred on some forms of knowledge and not others Boundary work enables a discipline to stake out a claim to its legitimate territory and the resources that go with it In a practice discipline such as nursing, the boundaries between nursing and supporting subjects, such as sociology and physiology, create problems of transfer of learning This has implications for curriculum design Bernstein's work on educational transmissions offers useful insights He suggests a distinction between educational knowledge codes 'Collection' codes involve strong boundaries between subjects,'integrated' codes imply weak boundaries The implications of the move to an integrated code in nursing are discussed The existence of an integrated code implies a 'strong ideological consensus' within a discipline In nursing this entails a belief in the 'individualized care' of the patients This is incompatible with the sociological understanding of nursing     

Role of sociology within the nursing enterprise: some reflections on the unfinished debate

The present paper reviews literature on the relevance of sociology to nursing in the context of arguments presented by Cooke, Sharp and Porter. It explores some of the arguments presented for and against sociology in nursing education. On a broader perspective, sociology inter alia, is at best worthwhile for nurses and is not as positively harmful as Sharp asserts. The discussion draws attention to the relevance of social theory for nursing practice. It is argued that almost all social theories have been widely applied in nursing research. The case for sociology as applied to nursing or nursing sociology versus general sociology for nurses was examined. This paper concludes in favor of the inclusion of sociology as applied to nursing in the nursing curriculum.     

The theory-practice gap in nursing: from research-based practice to practitioner-based research

The aim of nursing research is generally agreed to be the generation of knowledge, and whilst this is a relevant aim in theory-based disciplines such as sociology, the primary concern of nursing is with practice. Using examples drawn mainly from the field of mental health, it will be argued in this paper that the application of generalizable, research-based knowledge to individual, unique, person-centred practice, the so-called 'research-based practice' advocated by the Department of Health, is one of the main causes of the theory-practice gap. It will be further suggested that nursing requires a paradigm of clinical research which focuses on the individual therapeutic encounter in order to complement the existing sociological paradigm of theoretical research which is best suited to the generation of generalizable knowledge and theory. The paper will conclude by suggesting that such a clinically based research paradigm must not only focus on the individual nurse-patient relationship, but that it must be carried out by the nurse herself. Clinical research, if it is to make a difference to practice, must therefore be practitioner-based research.     

Preparation of academic nurse educators

Nursing practice is diverse, with nurses serving in both direct and indirect patient care roles. For nurse educators, the realm of nursing practice extends beyond direct patient care to include preparing students for nursing practice. Academic nurse educators must be prepared to serve as educators, researchers, and to have experience in a clinical specialty area. For many nurse educators, advanced academic preparation often relates to a clinical area of practice rather than pedagogical practice. Graduate-level knowledge of evidence-based research and practice, teaching methods, and curriculum design and development form the foundation for academic practice. Because education and nursing are two distinctive disciplines, clinical expertise does not naturally result in teaching expertise. Lack of consensus regarding the educational preparation of nurse educators adds to the complexity of the nursing profession. The purpose of this article is to advocate for pedagogical preparation for academic nurse educators. Additionally, this article contains recommendations for pedagogical competencies indicative of academic nurse educator preparation.     

Age and 'type' of domain specific entry qualifications as predictors of student nurses' performance in biological, social and behavioural sciences in nursing assessments

The present study explored the effects of age and 'type' of entry qualifications in psychology, sociology and biology on student performance in 'the psychological, sociological and biological perspectives in nursing' module assessments, respectively. Data from 222 students undertaking 'the pre-registration diploma in nursing' programme at a university in the north West of England were analysed. The study found no significant differences in performance among those students with GCSE 'O' level, those with access and those without any type of domain specific qualifications. However, student age significantly predicted performance, with such performances found to be highly consistent across the three modules. The 'non-mature' students (aged < 20 years) were identified in the study as being at risk in terms of academic performance whilst the 'very mature' students (aged > 34 years) were found to predict better overall performance. The findings suggest that, paper qualifications such as GCSE O.level, GNVQ or BTEC in psychology, sociology or biology should not be relied upon as predictors of academic performance in their related nursing modules when selecting potential nurses. On the basis of the findings and their probable explanations, it seems possible that the entry gate to nursing can further be widened by giving more credit to the older applicant who has, for example, achieved NVQ at level 2 or 3. However, such flexibility in nurse selection will have to be matched with equal flexibility in the pre-registration diploma in nursing curriculum which at present fails to recognize 'at risk' groups. The findings and the implications for nurse education and recruitment and discussed with support from a growing number of studies investigating student approaches to studying and learning.     

Desperately seeking sociology: nursing student perceptions of sociology on nursing courses

This paper will present the findings of a qualitative study exploring the perceptions of students confronted by a requirement to learn sociology within a nursing curriculum. Those teaching sociology have a variety of explanations (more or less desperate), seeking to justify its place on the nursing curriculum. While there may be no resolution to the debate, the dispute thus far, has largely been between sociology and nursing academics. Absent from this debate are the voices of students 'required' to learn both nursing and sociology. What do students make of this contested territory? When students are trying to learn their trade, and know how to practice safely and efficaciously what do they make of the sociological imagination? How realistic is it to expect students to grasp both the concrete and practical with the imaginative and critical? Findings from this qualitative, focus group study suggest that students do indeed find learning sociology within a nursing curriculum "unsettling". It would seem that students cope in a number of ways. They fragment and compartmentalise knowledge(s); they privilege the interception of experiential learning on the path between theory and practice; and yet they appear to employ sociological understanding to account for nursing's gendered and developing professional status.     

Nurse Education Tomorrow Conference 1990. Reforming nurse education. 1--The reorganisation of nursing knowledge

With the development of Project 2000, nurse education is being increasingly drawn into higher education with the expansion of diploma and degree courses. This paper explores the implications of these new relationships, drawing on the sociology of the curriculum and education in its analyses. It examines the impact of these changes on the professional standing of nurses and nursing and the reorganisation of the curricular codes that underpin nurse education. A movement towards higher education will introduce a new educational culture into nurse training and the wide multi-disciplinary base of nursing knowledge and practice will offer new challenges to nurse educators. The changes in nurse education add a new dynamic to the old tensions between academic and vocational training and raise new questions about the relationship of nurse education to the academic tribalism of higher education.     

Sociology and the nursing curriculum: a defence

This paper is a response to Keith Sharp's (1994) argument in the Journal of Advanced Nursing that sociology cannot in principle provide a knowledge base for nursing work The aim here is to reassert the appropriateness of including sociology in the nursing curriculum Three arguments put forward by Sharp are engaged with First, he questions nursing's need for any theoretical basis at all This hypothesis is rejected on the grounds that any occupation that is involved in complex decision-making requires some sort of theoretical guidance Second, Sharp argues that the multi-paradigmatic nature of sociology makes it inappropriate for nurses who require more certain knowledge as a basis for their-actions Two responses to this argument are made first, that the fissures within sociology are not as great as Sharp portrays them and, second, that nurses possess adequate criteria to be able to judge between different sociological propositions Sharp's final argument is that the reflexive approach of sociology is an inappropriate way of thinking for nurses, whose approach is instrumental In reply, it is noted that Sharp's instrumental model of nursing action does not adequately reflect the manner in which nurses interact with patients, and that 'new nursing' practices require reflexivity on the part of the nurse     

The Nature of Knowledge and Theory in Nursing

The formulation of nursing as a discipline is under way. Work on theory development, concept clarification and the development of a knowledge base is spurred by the creation of new doctoral programs and the emphasis on nursing research. As nursing establishes itself as an inventor of theory, the contrasts and similarities between its existence as both a practice profession and academic discipline come into sharp focus. As nursing strives to understand itself both as a user-applier and discoverer-inventor of knowledge and theory, it provides a model for other practice professions and academic disciplines to explore such questions as, What is the nature of theory in practice? What is the role of application in the formulation of theory? This paper examines the characteristics of theoretical constructs as they apply to the practice of nursing, the use of theory in that practice and the limitations of theory in application.     

The paranoid person: a biopsychosocial perspective

Paranoia is not a uniquely medical term. Articles on the subject appear in the literature of fields as diverse as psychology, sociology, linguistics, cognitive processing, and computers. Paranoia is also a human response to physical, psychical, interpersonal, and social ills and, as such, is a phenomenon of interest to nursing. The study of paranoia by several disciplines provides nurses with a variety of perspectives from which to understand the experiences of paranoid clients. Paranoia will be presented as a phenomenon that can be viewed from levels ranging from the suborganismic level to the sociocultural. Implications for nursing interventions geared to each level will be discussed.     

Tales of sociology and the nursing curriculum: revisiting the debates

The relationship between nursing and sociology has been extensively debated for more than two decades [Cox, C.A., 1979. Who cares? Nursing and sociology: the development of a symbiotic relationship. Journal of Advanced Nursing 4, 237-252; Cooke, H., 1993. Why teach sociology? Nurse Education Today 13, (3) 210-216; Sharpe, K., 1994. Sociology and the nursing curriculum: a note of caution. Journal of Advanced Nursing 20, (2) 391-395; Sharpe, K., 1995. Why indeed should we teach sociology? A response to Hannah Cooke. Nurse Education Today 15, (1) 52-55; Sharpe, K., 1996. Feedback - sociology and the nursing curriculum: a reply to Sam Porter. Journal of Advanced Nursing 23, (7) 1275-1278; Balsamo, D., Martin, S.I., 1995a. Developing the sociology of health in nurse education: towards a more critical curriculum. Part 1. Andragogy and sociology in Project 2000. Nurse Education Today 15, 427-432; Balsamo, D., Martin, S.I., 1995b. Developing the sociology of health in nurse education: towards a more critical curriculum. Part 2. Linking methodology and epistemology. Nurse Education Today 15, 427-432; Porter, S., 1995. Sociology and the nursing curriculum: a defence. Journal of Advanced Nursing 21, (6) 1130-1135; Porter, S., 1996. Why teach sociology? A contribution to the debate. Nurse Education Today, 16, 170-174; Porter, S., 1997. Sociology and the nursing curriculum: a further comment. Journal of Advanced Nursing 26, (1) 214-218; Porter, S., 1998. Social Theory and Nursing Practice. Macmillan, Basingstoke; Corlett, J., 2000. The perceptions of nurse teacher, student nurses and preceptors of the theory-practice gap in nurse education. Nurse Education Today 20, 499-505; Allen, D., 2001. Review article: nursing and sociology: an uneasy marriage?. Sociology of Health and Illness 23, (3) 386-396; Pinikahana, J., 2003. Role of sociology within the nursing enterprise: some reflections on the unfinished debate. Nursing and health Sciences 5, (2) 175-180; Holland, K., 2004. Sociology and the nursing curriculum; editorial. Nurse Education in Practice 4, 81-82; Mowforth, G., Harrison, J., Morris, M., 2005. An investigation into adult nursing students' experience of the relevance and application of behavioural sciences (biology, psychology and sociology) across two different curricula. Nurse Education Today 25, 41-48]. Much attention has been given to the role, utility and value of sociology mostly within pre-registration but also post-registration nursing curricula. Through an initial analysis of a series of letters appearing in The Nursing Times over a 12 week period in 2004, and using an analytical framework of four tales (realist, critical, deconstructive and reflexive) we revisit this relationship. Unlike previous debates our argument is that this relationship is more usefully viewed as emblematic of the legitimation crisis inherent in all modern projects. We argue that in order to move beyond the 'utility' discussion, an interrogation of the knowledge claims of both nursing and sociology is required.     

安徽省手术室专科护士培训理论课程设置的构架

安徽省在手术室专科护士培训中,以2005年手术室专科护士培训大纲为指导基础,结合培训对象、培训时间、培训目标、学员专业水平与需求及手术室护理发展的趋势等,进行理论课程设置的构架,加强基础知识和相关学科的学习内容,体现手术室护理与其他学科的融合与交叉.专业理论培训结果显示,学员对教材编排比较满意.     

Power for nursing education

The topic of power and politics is a recurrent theme in the nursing literature, but not, I wish to suggest, in the nursing educational literature. This paper introduces the topic of power as a nursing educational issue. It is divided into three sections: (a) what a concept of power might mean for nursing education; (b) the nature and form of power relationships within nursing education; and (c) the nature, form and efficacy of the current professional strategies to gain power. First, two definitions of power for nursing education are explored: (a) the power inherent in organizational structures; and (b) the notion of practising nursing education as an empowering profession. Next, a theoretical framework is applied to specific examples of power relationships within nursing education. Two views of power and their inter-relationship with decision-making in curriculum matters are described: 'overt conflict' and 'control of the institution's agenda'. It is argued that these still fail to pick up important instances of the strategies to gain power. Finally, examples of strategies used to gain power in colleges of nursing are made explicit. Concurrently, questions are raised in relation to their efficacy and alternative strategies more congruent with the role of professional educator are advocated. It is argued that nursing education's most lasting form of power will rest in the development of pedagogical knowledge expertise and a research basis: in essence, the development of an academic identity in nursing education.     

Assimilating sociology: critical reflections on the 'Sociology in nursing'debate

We are witnessing the emergence of a 'new nursing'. In part, this has been associated with the adoption of a 'holistic' model of health and a commitment to a holistic curriculum within nurse education. The role of sociology within the nursing enterprise has been the subject of much debate. This paper seeks to further this debate by arguing that sociology is invaluable to nursing for many reasons but that its value may be undermined as a consequence of being overly constrained within the nursing arena, at the mutual expense of both sociology and the long term interests of nursing itself. This paper will suggest that central to an understanding of how this 'surplus constraint' of sociology occurs is an understanding of the manner in which the holistic model has been adopted in much of nursing and nurse education. The'indeterminacy' of the holistic model is such that it has empowered a questionable eclecticism, marginalized philosophical controversies within nursing theory, disguised difficult epistemological and ontological conflicts associated with competing claims to truth and facilitated the operation of a form of power whereby sociology has been excluded, at the very moment of its apparent inclusion. This paper goes on to argue that the value of sociology to nursing is dependent upon: firstly, a more systematic and rigorous discussion of its relationship to, and role within, nursing and secondly, a movement away from an implicit 'assimilation' model regarding the incorporation of sociology into nursing towards a more 'multicultural' approach. Only under such circumstances may sociology's value to nursing be realized but in a manner that places an importance on maintaining the ontological and epistomological integrity of the sociological tradition.     

Caring and cancer nursing: framing the reality using selected social science theory

Caring and cancer nursing: framing the reality using selected social science theory Despite the recent interest in caring for both academic and clinical nursing, the theoretical basis of this concept may appear somewhat elusive as the research and debate vary widely in their focus. As a result, the available literature may fail to consider the specific contextual issues which characterize caring as it is understood across different health care settings. Consideration of theory from disciplines close to nursing, it is suggested, may be useful in understanding the nature of such 'real world' caring. In this discussion the concept of caring within cancer nursing is explored by drawing on a number of social science and nursing sources. It is known that cancer provokes unique caring demands for nurses practising in this area. By examining the context of cancer, it is argued that effective caring deserves to be recognized as an important clinical variable which can influence a diverse range of issues such as patient satisfaction or therapeutic outcome. It is suggested that other nursing specialisms should also explore the psychosocial dimensions of caring in relation to their own role.     

Undergraduate nursing curriculum building: an exploration into the ''sciences'' requirements

Academic nursing studies programmes are often channelled into one or other existing academic discipline. This limits the development of nursing knowledge which needs to be broader and more varied than a one-discipline orientation. Nursing students' epistemological difficulties arise because of inherent tensions brought about when the paradigms of such disciplines and practice requirements conflict, which so often they do. Interpretive sociological approaches as intellectual orientation for nursing studies offer a way out as their reflective patterns may encourage consciousness development and, through it, point towards changes.     

Models of nursing as the basis for curriculum development: some rationales and implications

Within this paper the notion of a model of nursing as a basis for curriculum development is explored. Firstly the factors which a curriculum developer in nursing might take under initial consideration are discussed. It is then argued that a nursing faculty must identify and define its conceptualization of nursing and what it is to be a nurse. The process of conceptualizing nursing itself is examined. The paper goes onto argue that once a nursing faculty has reached a consensus view as to what constitutes nursing, then it either designs or selects a model of nursing which supports their particular conceptualization. Educational literature is cited to support the view that curriculum design, process and content are interrelated and that student learning is facilitated when the relationship between these three factors is coordinated. It is suggested that a nursing curriculum can achieve such an integration if a model of nursing is used as the conceptual framework. Finally some of the implications of adopting a model of nursing are stated.     

Nursing and the art of radical critique

This paper argues that more critique is required in our nursing journals. I begin by distinguishing between conservative 'old' critique which functions to maintain the status quo in the academic discipline of nursing, and radical 'new' critique which challenges it and pushes at its boundaries. I then identify three reasons why I believe so little radical critique is published in nursing journals, and illustrate each with examples from my own experience. Firstly, there is an assumption that peer reviewers are fulfilling this critical function, whereas I have argued that peer review should be concerned only with procedural matters and not with 'new' or radical critique, which in any case should be in the public domain for it to be effective and influential. Secondly, radical critique is frequently mistaken for ad hominem attack, causing reluctance amongst writers, reviewers and editors to see it made public. And thirdly, radical critique lies outside of the dominant academic discourse and is therefore itself subject to the very same conservative and repressive attitudes against which it is poised. Nurse academics would do well to look to other disciplines such as philosophy and the arts for examples of radical critique and of the ways in which journal editors and contributors strive to keep academic debate and discourse alive.