Mar 16, 1988 - As nurses approach the 2Ist century questions are bemg raised ... theones utilized from other disapbnes have not sufificiently SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE ..... nursing students take a number of electives and these new.
Joumal of Advanced Nmsn^, 1989,14, 226-233
Nursing knowledge: women's knowledge. A sociological perspective Elizabeth I HagellRNMEd Assisiani Professor, Saini Franas Xavier Untversiiy, Antigontsh, Nova Scoha, B2C lCO, Canada
Accepted for pubiicahon 16 March 1988
HAGELLE I (1989) Journal of Advanced Nursmg 14t, 226-233 Nursing knowledge: women's knowledge. A sociological perspective As nurses approach the 2Ist century questions are bemg raised regardmg the direction m which the profession is movmg The majonty of leaders and educators m the field of nursmg have, to this pomt, stressed the importance of definmg nureing as a saence and of developmg a scientific knowledge base Recently, however, there has been a move among some researchers and theonsts m the field of nursmg to question the abihty of saence and the saentific method to deal with nursmg concems Usmg a vanety of perspectives, mcludmg fenunist theory, they are cnhqumg many of the basic assumptions about saence, saentific method and saentific knowledge This paper uses soaological and feminist theory to support the idea that nursmg, as a disaplme, has a distmct knowledge base whidi is not groimded in empinco-analytic saence and its methodology but which stems from the lived expenences of nurses as women and as nurses mvolved m canng relahonships with their chents
CONTEMPORARY NURSING „ , n , . ersonal direct expenence underlies all behaviours and happened is that the development of nursmg knowledge achons' They go on to say that women (although it can be has been very dependent on an empinco-analyhc view of applied to all people) need to find out 'what it is that we saence know and what it is that we expenence We need to redaim Although there are many ways of analysmg what the and rename our expenences and our knowledge of the focus on this type of saence means for nursmg, the two soaal world we hve m and daily construct' queshons which seem fundamental are 'Why does this Zderhad & Paterson (1976) state that foais exist?' and 'Why is it not appropnate for nursmgT every nursmg ev«it is unique, a lived mtersubjechve transSome aspects of the first question have heen discussed action colored and formed by the mdividual partiapants already Although the event is ephaneral, the resultant e:q)enential The second question has not been addressed as extenknowledge is lashng and cumulahve Sofromthe nurses daily sively, but IS a cruaal one By exammmg the effects of commonplace grows a body of wisdom the 'saentificahon' (l e empinco-analyhc) of nursmg it may be possible to change the diredion m which nursmg is WatscHi (1985), who has wntten tfie most expliat demovmg scnphcm of what nursmg knowledge should be, states that a paradigm for nurses must allow hionan phencnnena to If nursmg is concemed at>out the shength of its voice m decision makmg regardmg improvements m health services emerge and be mveshgated. The method must be sxah that tiien it would do weQ to evaluate carefully the binitahons the 'humanness' of a rekhonstiq> between two beii^s is placed on this ability by a posihvist concephon of the neither dmunidwd nor lost. Tliat is to say nursing knowl^ige is c
