ABSTRACT: The image of you: constructing nursing identities in YouTube
Abstract
AIM:This article is a report on a descriptive study of nursing identity as constructed in the Web 2.0 site YouTube.BACKGROUND:Public images of the nurse carry stereotypes that rely on the taken for granted gender category of the nurse as woman. Nursing images represent a form of public discourse that has the capacity to construct nursing identity.METHODS:Critical discourse analysis was used to describe, analyse and explain how nurse and nursing identity were constructed in a purposive sample of ten video clips accessed on 17 and 18 July 2010.RESULTS:The ten most-viewed videos depicting the nurse and nursing on YouTube offered narratives that constructed three distinct nursing identity types, namely nurse as a skilled knower and doer, nurse as a sexual plaything and nurse as a witless incompetent individual.CONCLUSION:Nursing identities recoverable from the texts of YouTube images propagate both favourable and derogatory nursing stereotypes. To mitigate the effects of unfavourable nursing stereotypes in such areas as interprofessional working and clinical decision-making, nursing professional bodies need to act to protect the profession from unduly immoderate representations of the nurse and to support nurses in their efforts to maximize opportunities afforded by YouTube to promote a counter discourse.
via The image of you: constructing nursing identities… [J Adv Nurs. 2012] – PubMed – NCBI.
Written by Brian S McGowan, PhD
Dr. McGowan has served in leadership positions in numerous medical educational organizations and commercial supporters and is a Fellow of the Alliance (FACEhp). He founded the Outcomes Standardization Project, launched and hosted the Alliance Podcast, and most recently launched and hosts the JCEHP Emerging Best Practices in CPD podcast. In 2012 he Co-Founded ArcheMedX, Inc, a healthcare informatics and e-learning company to apply his research in practice.
