Belle Melissa-Jane, Cook Peta S
School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia.
Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, Hobart, Australia.
Health Sociol Rev. 2023 Jul;32(2):129-144. doi: 10.1080/14461242.2022.2091947. Epub 2022 Jul 25.
Historical sociological perspectives posit professional identity to emerge from socialisation and attainment of 'traits' considered unique to and distinguishing of a profession. Such essentialist understandings, however, cannot account for group heterogeneity, nurses' lived experiences, nor the fluidity of professional and personal identity. This article conceptualises professional identity as being both individual and collective, influenced by context, involving subjective meaning-making, and membership to a specific professional group. Drawing on ethnographic data gathered through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with Critical Care Nurses in an Intensive Care Unit in regional Australia, we identify four themes that reveal different aspects of professional identity: conceptualising professional identity; professional identity as a title and legislative requirement; professional identity as qualifications and training; and professional identity as a social performance. The findings demonstrate that Critical Care Nurses hold multifaceted perceptions of professional identity. While they collectively distinguish their nursing training, knowledge, and practice from other nurses, they struggle to articulate what professional identity is, while creating boundaries between different forms of nursing education and qualifications to construct their professional identity. These uncertain and diverse meanings of professional identity contribute to nurse identity ambiguity, while also reflecting the necessity of flexible individual and collective nursing identities.
历史社会学视角认为，职业身份源自社会化过程以及获得被视为某一职业所特有的且能将其区分开来的“特质”。然而，这种本质主义的理解无法解释群体的异质性、护士的生活经历，也无法解释职业身份和个人身份的流动性。本文将职业身份概念化为个体的和集体的，受情境影响，涉及主观意义的建构，以及作为特定职业群体的成员身份。通过对澳大利亚地区一家重症监护病房的重症护理护士进行参与观察和半结构化访谈收集的人种志数据，我们识别出四个主题，这些主题揭示了职业身份的不同方面：职业身份的概念化；作为头衔和立法要求的职业身份；作为资格和培训的职业身份；以及作为社会表现的职业身份。研究结果表明，重症护理护士对职业身份有着多方面的认知。虽然他们集体将自己的护理培训、知识和实践与其他护士区分开来，但他们难以阐明职业身份是什么，同时在不同形式的护理教育和资格之间划定界限以构建自己的职业身份。职业身份这些不确定且多样的含义导致了护士身份的模糊性，同时也反映了灵活的个体和集体护理身份的必要性。
