A moral imperative to improve the quality of work-life for nurses: Building inclusive social capital capacity
Anne Hofmeyer
Project Officer, School of Nursing, Flinders University, SA; University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
PP: 009 - 019
Abstract
The complexity and incessant change in the corporatised health care workplace has influenced nurses' work choices, morale, quality of work-life and the wellbeing of patients. Thus, there is an urgent moral imperative to improve the quality of work-life for nurses. To this end, it is crucial to re-define progress beyond the sole economic markers of success and profit in the health care workplace.
This paper argues for the identification of ethical markers and indicators of organisational success based on bridging and linking social capital which could be used to re-organise health care organisations, hence crafting inclusive moral spaces where nurses can safely work and provide quality care for patients. Social and ethical evaluation is well suited to examine current workplace dilemmas from a psychosocial perspective and provide a framework for best practice in building capacity in effective social relations and family friendly, ethical workplaces.
Keywords
nursing; social and ethical audits; ethics; workforce; capacity building; social capital
References
Aiken L Clarke S Sloan D Sochalski J & Silber J (2002): Hospital Nurse Staffing and Patient Mortality, Nurse Burnout and Job Dissatisfaction. JAMA 288(16) Oct 23/30 jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v288n16/rfull/joc20547.html
Aiken L Clarke S Sloane D Sochalski J Busse R, Clarke H Giovannetti P Hunt J Rafferty A-M & Shamian J (2001): Nurses' reports on hospital care in five countries Health Affairs 20(3):43-53.
Anderson GW Monsen RB & Rorty MV (2000): Nursing and genetics: A feminist critique moves us towards transdisciplinary teams. Nursing Ethics 7(3):191-204.
Birch D & Batten J (2001): Corporate Citizenship in Australia. Corporate Citizenship Research Unit, Faculty of Arts, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia.
Bourdieu P (1986): The Forms of Capital. In Richardson JG (ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education pp.241-258. Greenwood Press, New York.
Canadian Nursing Advisory Committee (CNAC) (2002): Our Health, Our Future: Creating Quality Workplaces for Canadian Nurses. Final Report.
Clare J & Hofmeyer A (in press): Nursing leadership: trust and reciprocity. In Daly J Speedy S & Jackson D (eds.) Ch 26. Blackwell Science.
Coleman JS (1988): Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. American Journal of Sociology 94:S95-S120.
Corley MC & Goren S (1998): The Dark Side of Nursing: Impact of Stigmatising Responses on Patients. Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice 12(2):99-118.
Corley MC (1995): Moral distress of critical care nurses. American Journal of Critical Care 4(4):280-285.
Cox E (1995): A Truly Civil Society. Boyer Lectures.ABC Books, Sydney, Australia.
Cox E (1996): Leading Women: Tactics for making the difference. Random House Australia
Cox E (1998): The Social Audit. The Body Shop Results 1998: The New Bottom Line. Environmental Statement, Animal Protection Statement. The Body Shop Australia.
Cox E (1999): A Draft Manual for Community Groups for Initial Discussion. Reichstein Foundation. pp.1-41.Available from E Cox, University of Technology, Sydney Department of Education, Training and Youth
Affairs (DETYA) (2001): An Overview of Issues in Nursing Education. Evaluations and Investigations Programme Higher Education Division. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.
Duffield C & O'Brien-Pallas L (2002): The nursing workforce in Canada and Australia: Two sides of the same coin Australian Health Review 25(2):136-144.
Erlen JA & Frost B (1991): Nurses' perceptions of powerlessness in influencing ethical decisions. Western Journal of Nursing Research 13:397-407.
Evans M (1983): Not free to be moral Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing 3(3):35-48.
Farrell GA (1999): Aggression in clinical settings: nurses' views a follow-up study Journal of Advanced Nursing 29(3):532-541.
Heath P (2002): National Review of Nursing Education: Our Duty of Care. Commonwealth of Australia.
Hiraki A (1998): Corporate language and nursing practice. Nursing Outlook, 46:115-119.
Hockley C 2000 The language used when reporting inter-female violence among nurses in the workplace Collegian 7(4):24-29
Hofmeyer A (2002): The relationship between nursing and the concept of social capital: A critical philosophical inquiry. Unpublished PhD thesis, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Flinders University, Australia.
Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability (ISEA) (2000): Purpose, governance and membership www.accountability.org.uk
Jackson D Mannix J & Daly J (2001): Retaining a viable workforce: a critical challenge for nursing. Contemporary Nurse 11(2-3): 163-172.
Johnstone MJ (1999): Bioethics: a nursing perspective 3rd edn. Harcourt Saunders NSW.
Johnstone MJ (2002): Poor working conditions and the capacity of nurses to provide moral care. Contemporary Nurse 12(1):7-15.
JCAHO (2002): Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Addressing the Evolving Nursing Crisis. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organisations.
Kawachi I Kennedy BP Lochner K & Prothrow-Stith D (1997): Social Capital, Income Inequality and Mortality. American Journal of Public Health vol. 87, no. 9, pp. 1491-1498.
Kawachi I Kennedy B & Glass R (1999): Social Capital and Self-rated Health: A Contextual Analysis. American Journal of Public Health 89(8):1187-1193.
Ketefian S (1985): Professional and bureaucratic role conceptions and moral behaviour among nurses. Nursing Research 34(4):248-253.
Komesaroff P (1999): Ethical implications of competition policy in healthcare. Medical Journal of Australia 170:266-268.
Laschinger H Finegan J Shamian J & Casier S (2000): Organisational trust and empowerment in restructured health care settings: effects on staff nurse commitment. Journal of Nursing Administration 30(9):413-425.
Liaschenko J (1998a): Moral evaluation and concepts of health and health promotion. Advanced Practice Nursing Quarterly 4(2):71-77.
Liaschenko J (1997): Knowing the patient? In Thorne S & Hayes V (eds) Nursing Praxis: Knowledge and Action. pp. 23-38. Sage Publications Thousand Oaks California.
Liaschenko J (1998b): The shift from the closed to the open body - ramifications for nursing testimony. In Edwards S (ed) Philosophical Issues in Nursing. Macmillan Press UK.
Marmot M (2000): Social determinants of health: from observation to policy. Medical Journal of Australia 17 April, 172:379-382.
Marmot M & Feeney A (1996):Work and health: implications for individuals and society. In Blane D Brunner E & Wilkinson R (eds) Health and Social Organisation: Towards a health policy for the twenty-first century pp. 235-254. Routledge, London.
Mohr W (1997): Outcomes of corporate greed Journal Nursing Scholarship 29(10):39-45.
Narayan D (1998): Bonds and Bridges: Social Capital and Poverty. The World Bank.
Offe C (1998): Present historical transitions and some basic design options for societal institutions. Paper based on a lecture to the Congress on Society and the Reform of the State, Sao Paulo, March 26-29. pp. 1-17.
Pearce N & Davey Smith G (2003): Is Social Capital the Key to Inequalities in Health? American Journal of Public Health 93(1): 122-129.
Portes A (1998): Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology 24:1-24.
Portes A & Landolt P (1996): The Downside of Social Capital American Prospect 26:8-22
Putnam RD (1993): Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
Reid J (1994): Reid Review Nursing Education in Australian Universities Report of National Review of Nurse Education in the Higher Education Sector - 1994 and beyond. AGPS.
Rippon TJ (2000): Aggression and violence in health care. Journal of Advanced Nursing 31(2):452-460.
Rodney P (1997): Towards connectedness and trust: Nurses' enactment of their moral agency within an organizational context. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Rodney P (1989): Towards ethical decision making in nursing practice. Canadian Journal of Nursing Administration 2(2):11-13.
Rodney P & Starzomski R (1993): Constraints on the moral agency of nurses. Canadian Nurse 89(9):23-26.
Rodney P & Varcoe C (2001): Towards ethical inquiry in the economic evaluation of nursing practice. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research 33(1):35-57.
Scott JG Sochalski J & Aiken L (1999): Review of Magnet Hospital Research: findings and implications for professional nursing practice. Journal of Nursing Administration 29(1):9-19.
Senate Community Affairs Committee (SCAC) (2002): The Patient Profession: Time For Action Report on the Inquiry into Nursing Parliament of Australia.
Sochalski J (2001): Nursing's valued resources: critical issues in economics and nursing care. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research 33(1):11-18.
Szreter S (2002): The state of social capital: bringing back power, politics and history. Theory and Society 31:573-621.
Varcoe C (1998): Ideology of scarcity: working with/in austerity, Ninth Annual International Critical and Feminist Perspectives in Nursing Conference, Adelaide 24-26 June.
Varcoe C & Rodney P (2002): Constrained agency: The social structure of nurses' work. In Bolaria BS & Dickinson H (eds) Health, illness, and health care in Canada pp.102-128. 3rd ed Toronto: Harcourt Brace.
Wilkinson JM (1988): Moral distress in nursing practice: experience and effect. Nursing Forum 23(1):16-29.
Wilkinson R & Marmot M (eds) (2000): The Solid Facts - 10 Social Determinants of Health. WHO 1998 Copenhagen, http://www.who.dk/healthy-cities/sf.htm.
Wilkinson R (2002): Commentary: Liberty, fraternity, equality. International Journal of Epidemiology 31(3):538-543.
Winter I (2000): Social Capital and Public Policy in Australia. Australian Institute of Family Studies, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, ACT.
Woolcock M (1998): Social Capital and Economic Development: Towards a Theoretical Synthesis and Policy Framework. Theory and Society 27(2):151-208.
Woolcock M (2001): The Place of Social Capital in Understanding Social and Economic Outcomes. ISUMA, Canadian Journal of Policy Research 2(1):11-17.
Woolcock M & Narayan D (2000): Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, Research, and Policy. World Bank Research Observer 15(2):225-249.
World Health Organisation (1997): Jakarta Declaration on Health Promotion in the 21st Century. Geneva: WHO.
Yarling RR & McElmurry BJ (1986):The moral foundation of nursing. Advances in Nursing Science, 8(2):63-73.
eContent Home
