Nurses’ views on emotional labor behavior: A qualitative study

ABSTRACT

Aim

The study was conducted to determine nurses’ views on emotional labor behavior using the phenomenological method, which is a qualitative research method.

Methods

The sample of the study consisted of 29 nurses who were in face-to-face communication with patients and who were selected with maximum variation sampling. In-depth individual interviews were held. Semi-structured interview form prepared with the support of scientific literature was used. The evaluation of the data were done by using content analysis.

Results

Considering the theoretical structure of the context, the emotional labor behavior of nurses is analyzed in three themes: surface acting, deep acting, and genuine acting. The nurses expressed that the nursing profession requires an understanding for serving patients; nurses act according to the expectations of the institution; they try to stay strong by putting on a mask when they get sad and try to calm down by suppressing their feelings.

Conclusion

In this study, nurses’ views on emotional labor behavior were determined and opinions on surface acting, deep acting, and genuine acting themes were expressed. Nursing administrators are recommended to analyze data about nurses’ surface acting in detail and to work to improve the subject.

KEYWORDS:

• Nurse
• emotional labor behavior
• qualitative research
• nursing administration
• hospital

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Approval was obtained from Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty Clinical Research Ethics Committee numbered 83045809/11288.

This study is a doctoral thesis.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.