Joan Evans

Contradictions and Tensions: Exploring Relations of Masculinities in the Numerically Female-Dominated Nursing Profession

The feminization of nursing constitutes a significant barrier to men choosing to enter nursing, and in part accounts for the low numbers of men in the profession. Men who choose non-traditional occupations such as nursing are at greater risk than their women counterparts of being unsupported, devalued, and even ridiculed for engaging in gender-inappropriate behavior. For the small number of men who defy prevailing gender norms by engaging in this work, the perception of a spoiled masculinity reflects the gendered and sexed relations within the profession. Men nurses are faced with the reality of defending their career choice, their contribution to nursing, and their sexuality. As a consequence, men who do nursing work are continually reminded that they are different from other men. The experience of eight men registered nurses in Nova Scotia, Canada, reveals the tensions and contradictions of mens lives in a non-traditional occupation.

Social information processing in adolescents with chronic pain: My friends don’t really understand me

Summary Friendships of adolescents with chronic pain may be different than those of healthy peers. Differences in cognitive processes during social interactions reveal potential strategies to ameliorate differences. ABSTRACT Adolescents with chronic pain are at risk for impairment in their friendships. They miss out on leisure activities, have increased school absence, may have fewer friends, are at an increased risk for victimization, and may be perceived by peers as less likeable. To help determine the source of these problems, the Social Information Processing Model (SIP) was adapted using narrative vignettes to determine if adolescents with chronic pain interpret friendship interactions differently in terms of supportive and nonsupportive behaviors compared to healthy peers. One hundred seven adolescents, 45 with chronic pain, completed the vignette questionnaire and a battery of measures. The vignette questionnaire included 12 vignettes to capture 3 steps in SIP processing: interpretation of cues, response construction, and response decision. Participants with chronic pain rated nonsupportive vignettes more negatively than healthy controls and indicated they would enact supportive behaviors towards the chronic pain character more often if they had been the healthy character. Age, sex, and internalizing measures did not significantly contribute to the findings. Chronic pain explained 6.5% of variance in the ratings of nonsupportive vignettes and 10.1% of the variance in supportive behavior selection. Adolescents with chronic pain may interpret nonsupportive social situations with close friends as more distressing. The endorsement of more supportive behaviors may indicate a need for, and expectation of, supportive behaviors from friends. When adolescents with chronic pain do not perceive friends as providing support, they may avoid these social situations.

Bodies Matter: Men, Masculinity, and the Gendered Division of Labour in Nursing

Abstract Background: Biological differences between the bodies of men and women play a major role in determining the type of work performed by them and they therefore contribute to the social construction of some kinds of work as more masculine than others. Within the numerically female‐dominated profession of nursing, the experiences of men provide insight into the ways mens bodies and notions of masculinity have contributed to a gendered division of labour. Purpose: This paper examines the experience of men in nursing and the roles men nurses expect and are expected to assume by virtue of being men. Findings: Data from interviews with eight men nurses registered in Nova Scotia, Canada reveal that roles such as ‘he‐man’ and enforcer create complex situations of advantage and disadvantage for men nurses. On the one hand, they affirm masculinity and mens special contribution to nursing. On the other hand, they generate extra work, compromise men nurses’ relationships with women nurses and women patients, and project an image of men as uncaring. Even more problematic, the ‘he‐man’ and enforcer roles may construct an additional role of ‘failed caregiver’. The experience of men in numerically female‐dominated occupations such as nursing points to the need to recognize the extent to which bodily qualities, abilities and practices have come to be seen as masculine or feminine. An additional challenge is to understand how this association manifests itself as a gendered division of labour that negatively impacts the work lives of men and women alike.

Patriarchal paradox: gender performance and men's nursing careers

Purpose – In this paper, the authors situate existing scholarship about men in nursing within the broader gendered landscape of the profession and society. As a consequence, the need to reframe the discourse about men in nursing from the current emphasis on personal or collective experiences to collective action becomes apparent. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A critical synthesis of scholarship addressing men in nursing serves as the basis for a conceptual paper which challenges the existing discourse on men in nursing. Findings – The experiences and careers of men in nursing are profoundly shaped by patriarchal power structures that situate caregiving within the realm of the feminine. Although men generally benefit in the context of patriarchal society, men in nursing are subject to a patriarchal paradox that marginalizes their performance of masculinity and situates them as unlikely caregivers. Therefore, men in nursing are preoccupied with balancing the contradic...