Chapter In Search of Sympathy

In this essay, I place in historical context the three themes identified as important for the image of nursing in the Nursing Mirror competition, using nursing textbooks, diaries, memoirs, institutional and committee records and oral histories of nurses who trained in the 1920s and 1930s, largely fr...

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Автор: Chaney, Sarah
Формат: Online
Мова:Англійська
Опубліковано: McFarland 2023
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Онлайн доступ:https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/60610
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description In this essay, I place in historical context the three themes identified as important for the image of nursing in the Nursing Mirror competition, using nursing textbooks, diaries, memoirs, institutional and committee records and oral histories of nurses who trained in the 1920s and 1930s, largely from the Royal College of Nursing Archive. I begin with “human sympathy,” a trait newly emphasized in nursing around the turn of the twentieth century (Chaney, 2020). As I have shown elsewhere, there were definite class overtones to this new framing of nursing care. The emphasis on “finer” feelings such as sympathy was linked to explicit efforts by some reformers—such as Ethel Bedford Fenwick—to turn nursing into a middle-class profession (Rafferty, 1993; Brooks, 2001). The professional status of nursing in Britain was even newer, solidified by the passing of the Nurses Registration Act in December 1919. I turn next, then, to “professional capacity.” The view of professional identity that followed the introduction of registration was heavily shaped by First World War nursing. As well as the hierarchical structure of military discipline, the Edith Cavell myth popularized the view that not to show strong emotion was the hallmark of the modern, professional nurse. Finally, I examine the third theme outlined by the Nursing Mirror—beauty of line—in relation to the expectations around femininity and appearance in the interwar period. The good nurse was also a good woman, something visible in both her appearance and her actions.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-960162025-07-17T12:16:02Z Chapter In Search of Sympathy Chaney, Sarah nurses Textbook thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MQ Nursing and ancillary services::MQC Nursing thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MQ Nursing and ancillary services::MQC Nursing In this essay, I place in historical context the three themes identified as important for the image of nursing in the Nursing Mirror competition, using nursing textbooks, diaries, memoirs, institutional and committee records and oral histories of nurses who trained in the 1920s and 1930s, largely from the Royal College of Nursing Archive. I begin with “human sympathy,” a trait newly emphasized in nursing around the turn of the twentieth century (Chaney, 2020). As I have shown elsewhere, there were definite class overtones to this new framing of nursing care. The emphasis on “finer” feelings such as sympathy was linked to explicit efforts by some reformers—such as Ethel Bedford Fenwick—to turn nursing into a middle-class profession (Rafferty, 1993; Brooks, 2001). The professional status of nursing in Britain was even newer, solidified by the passing of the Nurses Registration Act in December 1919. I turn next, then, to “professional capacity.” The view of professional identity that followed the introduction of registration was heavily shaped by First World War nursing. As well as the hierarchical structure of military discipline, the Edith Cavell myth popularized the view that not to show strong emotion was the hallmark of the modern, professional nurse. Finally, I examine the third theme outlined by the Nursing Mirror—beauty of line—in relation to the expectations around femininity and appearance in the interwar period. The good nurse was also a good woman, something visible in both her appearance and her actions. 2023-01-12T04:02:55Z 2023-01-12T04:02:55Z 2023-01-11T13:22:13Z 2021 chapter https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/60610 9781476684185 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/96016 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/60610/1/Bookshelf_NBK578421.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/60610/1/Bookshelf_NBK578421.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/60610/1/Bookshelf_NBK578421.pdf McFarland 89a93836-06f4-41db-91fb-7514ff8e69e8 The Nurse in Popular Media Wellcome Trust d859fbd3-d884-4090-a0ec-baf821c9abfd 9781476684185 Wellcome 18 open access
spellingShingle nurses
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thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MQ Nursing and ancillary services::MQC Nursing
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MQ Nursing and ancillary services::MQC Nursing
Chaney, Sarah
Chapter In Search of Sympathy
title Chapter In Search of Sympathy
title_full Chapter In Search of Sympathy
title_fullStr Chapter In Search of Sympathy
title_full_unstemmed Chapter In Search of Sympathy
title_short Chapter In Search of Sympathy
title_sort chapter in search of sympathy
topic nurses
Textbook
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MQ Nursing and ancillary services::MQC Nursing
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MQ Nursing and ancillary services::MQC Nursing
topic_facet nurses
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thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MQ Nursing and ancillary services::MQC Nursing
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MQ Nursing and ancillary services::MQC Nursing
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/60610
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